Unexpected
by Chuuuups
Summary: Tris could still remember how it felt to hang above the Chasm. At that moment she had accepted her death. She would have died if not for Eric.
1. Prologue

**AN: Hi! This is just a prologue so that you know from when I am taking Divergent over! _I own nothing of this scene;_ I basically took it from the book and changed the words into mine.**

**Please read the next chapter. Pretty please!**

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Sleeping was apparently not an option for Tris that night. After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, she got up so that she could stretch.

She walked to the fountain in the corridor, keeping a hand on the stoned wall to steady herself in the darkness.

Just when she was bending over the fountain, she heard voices coming from the corridor around the corner.

She couldn't help it; her curiosity was too strong. She quietly walked to the voices.

"There have been no signs" she recognized the deep voice as Eric's. But, _what was he talking about?_

"As I thought; it's not noticeable at this stage of initiation" a woman's voice answered. Tris had already heard this voice, but she couldn't recall where.

"Just keep searching for any signs of Divergent rebels during stage two of initiation." The woman continued.

Tris almost gasped when she heard the word 'Divergent'; she leaned her body against the wall and bent around the corner in an attempt to find out who the woman was.

"Never forget, Eric. Never forget why I made Max choose you as a leader."

"I won't"

That woman was the one pulling the strings. She gave Eric his position as a leader. She was the reason why Tris had to hide. She wanted Tris's death.

Just when Tris was moving a few centimeters ahead, someone grabbed her roughly and a hand clasped on her mouth.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Tris had been blind-folded; her arms ached from where Al had been gripping her. She still couldn't believe it was her friend who attacked her along with Peter and one of his acolytes. She was struggling with every bit of strength left in her not to flip over the railing. It was even harder to stay put on the ground because of the darkness she was left in; she was terrified. Two strong hands, Al's, were closed on her forearms pressing them harshly to her back while another hand was crushed on her mouth.

"Come on, you useless fuckers! Push her into the Chasm already!" She could hear Peter's voice.

One of her feet found the edge of the Chasm and her breathing became even more ragged; she begged unheard words through the boy's hand.

"Hey!"

Someone called from behind. It was a deep voice and apparently the man distracted the three initiates because Tris could feel the hand on her mouth letting go. She hated being blind-folded, she wanted to fight. She attempted a kick and her foot met something hard. Just when she was hoping it was Peter, a fist hit her jaw hard enough to make her dizzy.

"Bitch!" and she knew it was Peter she kicked.

She still couldn't see a thing; it was all darkness for her. A sickening cracking noise came to her ears and then a thump. One of the three boys must have been beaten. "Shit!" Al muttered and his hands on her arms finally let go. Tris let out a whimper of relief.

"Where do you think you're going?" the deep voice demanded. Al was trying to run away.

She instantly began to back away from the railing while hearing more punches and groans from behind her. Her hands flew to her head to try to remove the blindfold. She needed to see. Looking around without seeing was frightening near the Chasm. But then two hands found her throat. She tried to scream but she choked, vainly throwing weak punches to her new attacker.

"I'm not going to let you escape Stiff" Peter's voice hissed.

He pushed her with force back to the railing and it collided hard with her back. She widened her eyes to the sudden pain. Tris couldn't even let a scream escape her mouth because of Peter's hands. Now her feet were up in the air and the dizziness was even worse. Suddenly Peter lifted her over the railing; the Chasm was underneath her. Peter just had to let go and she was dead. Tears filled up her eyes. _Please don't let me die. Please. Just make it stop._

But the railing hit her hard in the stomach and she shrieked, the pain almost making her faint. Peter had let her go. One of her foot didn't find the ground while the other smacked against the ledge. Her hands gripped desperately on the metal bars as she cried. She didn't want to fall.

Tris heard another thump and then running footsteps. It looked like Peter was running away too. Two strong hands firmly held her waist and she was brought back over the railing to the safety of the ground. She couldn't stand; she felt her knees hit the ground and then her cheek did.

"Hey Stiff, you're not dead, are you?" the deep voice asked.

His hand brushed her head, the blindfold was removed; she could see again.

The man's eyes were silver in the dark alley. She contemplated them lost in the ocean of blue and silver before spotting piercings above his left eye. Another on his lip. Long black hair. _Eric?_ She asked herself. The dizziness was probably the reason why it took her at least ten seconds to recognize the face.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" Eric mumbled, studying Tris. It was the last words she heard before falling into darkness.

Eric was just headed to the training room when he had heard the voices and spotted them at the Chasm. Now he was crouched beside an unconscious Tris and had no idea what to do. He turned his face and saw Drew and the other coward he beat a second ago standing up and running away casting him terrified looks. Peter was even worse of a coward; he'd left his two friends on the floor to flee.

"These cowards…" he mumbled and looked down to Tris. He gave her little slaps on her cheek trying to wake her up. "Hey. Hey Stiff. Wake up." He shook impatiently her shoulders. "Wake the hell up!" When she only moaned in response, he stood up and ruffled his long hair in frustration. This Stiff was really getting on his nerves. Why does she have to bring up trouble like that? He was starting to think he could just leave her there lying on the floor, he hated her after all, she came from Abnegation. He sucked at the piercing on his lower lip and scowled. He knew he couldn't do that; he was the leader in charge of initiation and he could be in trouble himself, it was already fortunate that he avoided a murder among the initiates.

"Shit" he cursed while gathering Tris in his arms. He decided he was taking her to the infirmary. He carried her there quickly as she was light. Eric kicked at the door of the infirmary to pry it open. But the door wouldn't budge. He frowned. He was going to put her down to try to force the door open when he spotted a note on the door.

_Infirmary closed. Some stupid kids set stink bombs in here and we had to evacuate everyone.  
>Please come back tomorrow –if the smell is gone- and beat the crap out of those kids for me if you know who they are. In case of <em>_real__ emergency find me at my place._

_-Katie, head of the Infirmary_

"Great!" Eric said angrily. He stared down at Tris still in his arms. She was no emergency, she just needed a bed. And maybe painkillers, he thought. He began to walk away thinking about his options. No way he was leaving her in the middle of the Pit. He couldn't bring her to the dorms either knowing the three cowards were there and would probably try to kill her again.

"Stiff?" He tried again. "Can't you just wake up?"

That left only one option he guessed and headed to his apartment.

At his door he struggled a bit to find his keys without dropping Tris. She stirred in his arms and buried her face to his chest.

His eyebrow went up and he glanced down at her "Hey don't do that Stiff it's disgusting". Finally he managed to turn the key in the lock and slammed back the door with his foot when he entered.

The noise was so loud that Tris's head throbbed. She groaned.

"Oh so now that we're here you wake up Stiff. Great. That's just great." She heard Eric say ironically. She opened her eyes and winced at the light in the room. What is this room? Oh probably the infirmary. He set her down and held her shoulders to steady her. She stared at his silver blue eyes, then hers widened and she jerked away. She was with Eric! As soon as she did it she regretted it and a moan escaped her mouth; her head throbbed again and she felt a dull pain on her back. Actually not only in her back, her whole body hurt, her stomach, her arms and even her shoulders because of how Al kept pulling at her arms. Al. She thought about him and her breathing became irregular. He tried to kill her. She couldn't see a thing. She was up in the air above the Chasm. She almost died.

"Come on don't freak out now!" Eric barked as he threw his hands in the air. This Stiff definitely brought him trouble.

Tris's eyes widened and she was even more unsteady now looking at him terrified. Eric understood his mistake and tried to soften a bit. He didn't know if he should come closer to her; she was obviously scared of him. Everyone was scared of him and he could only blame it on himself; he had worked on this image. He had wanted people to fear him. So he stayed two feet away from her.

"You need to calm down now" he said in his deep voice. "Try to take deep breaths" he motioned her with his hand when to inhale and exhale along with him. When she seemed to be steadier, Eric slowly came to her and put his hand on her back to lead her to the couch. "Now sit down" he simply said before walking away.

Tris stared at him and then back to herself. Eric was scary but so far he hadn't been too rough with her, so she stayed calm. But why wasn't he acting like his usual sadistic self? As soon as Tris asked herself the question she realized it; _it was an _act. She remembered her history lessons; telling that before their System, figures of government often required a frightening image to assert their authority. _Eric._ Eric probably wanted to be acknowledged by this concept; after all, he came from Erudite.

She could see bruises on her forearms and quickly she touched her jaw and her nose remembering Peter punching her there. She groaned, her jaw was swollen and hurt like hell. Did she have to get beaten up and almost die every damn week here in Dauntless?

Her gaze came to the couch she was sitting on and then to a bed at her right. How come there is a couch and a bed like that in the infirmary? Her jaw dropped when she realized she wasn't there but at Eric's place. Her eyes swept over the room; a table in front of her, a little kitchen counter to the left and then back to the bed. _Why did he bring me here?_ She heard a noise and her head flew to the right, Eric emerged from what must be the bathroom; her head throbbed again and she winced.

Eric came to her in lazy strides, took her hand and put pills on her palm, then walked away to the kitchen counter. He came back with a glass of water. Tris simply stared at him the whole time wondering why he was even taking care of her.

"Here, drink this." He saw a look of incomprehension on Tris's face. "Painkillers" he said.

The incomprehension was still there.

He stared at her and said "Don't misunderstand Stiff. The infirmary was closed for some fucking reason and believe me I was tempted to leave you by the Chasm but then my position as a leader would be at risk." He stopped and saw her eyes looking down. "I hate this situation as much as you do, if not more" he sighed "Now do as I say and drink those."

He let himself fall on the table so that he was sitting face to face with her. They stared at each other.

"So now what happens now?" Tris quietly asked.

Eric honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do either. He considered answering her that but then his eyes came to her swollen jaw. He cursed and leaned closer. She jerked back. "Stiff tell me if you don't want me to look at your bruises" he spat. She looked like she was searching something in his eyes and after a moment, she leaned in. He turned her head to the side one hand on her chin, the other pushing back her blond hair over her shoulder.

When he did so her heart jumped but she didn't let it be noticed, looked up at the ceiling. She felt his fingers skim over her bruise.

"Okay some ice will just do for that. Nothing's broken." he concluded. "Any other bruises?"

Tris nodded but then hesitated. She didn't want him to look at her back nor her stomach.

Eric's expression became annoyed. "Come on spit it out!" he began, and then with a devilish grin that suited him so well. "There's nothing to be seen anyway Stiff."

She glared at him but at least now she was determined to tell him. "Ok. O-On my stomach… and my back. The railing hit me."

"Just stand up already" he said.

The poor girl winced when she tried to stretch and stood. Eric stayed on the table and lifted her tank top, just enough to see the damage. At least he had some sort of decency. He was surprised to see some muscles; the first stage of initiation must have changed her body. He studied the contusion on her stomach and put a hand of her hip to turn her around; he noticed when she shivered at his touch and avoided his eyes. 'That Stiff…' he thought. But he shook his head and skimmed a hand over her lower back where the railing left a mark. "Nothing serious either on you back. You're lucky all your bones seem in the right place. You've got nothing that won't heal with time" he said pulling down her shirt and stood. Tris sat back on the couch -slowly to avoid any extra pain. "We're going to have to clean the blood away though. Don't know if you noticed but your face is all bloodied."

He went for the bathroom and came back with a drenched cloth. With no words exchanged he sat back on the table and began to clean her nose. Tris studied his expression. He looked so concentrated. She caught a glimpse of an Eric she never guessed existed, he was actually caring. He was helping. Sadistic Eric who wanted to throw knives at Al and who made Christina hang above the Chasm. He didn't look sadistic now.

Her eyelids felt really heavy. She allowed them to close. 'Just for little while' she told herself.

She opened her eyes to darkness. She panicked for a moment; it reminded her of the blindfold. It took her eyes a moment to adjust. And they widened at the sight of Eric's sleeping face in front of her. He looked so harmless and vulnerable in his sleep. And he took care of her, he saved her. She was sure it wasn't the first time for him, saving people, as a leader. _The Dauntless members don't give him enough credit_, she thought dryly. _I'll have to thank him properly._

She was lying on the couch. He was sitting on the floor, his arm was laid over her chest holding something to her jaw. _Icepack_ she thought. She took it, the gesture woke Eric.

"I –I'll just hold it" she quickly whispered her eyes wide in the dark.

Eric groaned, nodded and through semi closed eyes he headed to his bed. Tris heard a thump and she knew he was asleep again. So she let herself fall back asleep too, thinking of his sleeping peaceful face.

**AN: Please review, review! This is my first fanfiction so I need feeback; you know so that I know if I am really bad at writing and should stop posting. I need to thank Shadoows. As much as I love her and I thank her so much, my beta reader is a friend of mine so her comments are biased :p **

**I also apologize for any English mistake as it is not my native language!**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: **Here is chapter 2!

Thank you so much to all of you who added the story to their alerts or favorites. Many thanks to the people who reviewed the first chapter; I am so happy, you guys are really kind.

To the anon who reviewed: I would have loved to send you a PM to thank you properly. What you wrote really means A LOT to me. Thank you so much for you kind words! Please keep on reading. Oh and if you ever create an account on you should send me a PM.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Tris woke up to the sound of a shower running. She sat up and looked around her. She ignored the pain in her whole body and set the icepack on the table. 'Right' she reminded herself, 'I'm at Eric's.'

She felt her jaw less swollen and carefully checked with the tip of her fingers. She stood up.

Just then Eric came out of the bathroom. He was bare chest wearing only black jeans that hung low on his hips. His long black hair was still damp, sticking on his shoulders. Tris gasped and felt her cheeks heat up; he was obviously well built and he was actually quite handsome when the sadistic look wasn't on his face. She could see for the first time his tattoo in whole. The base of his neck, his collarbone and shoulders were covered in black elaborated tribal patterns that she wanted to look for longer than appropriate.

He cast her a glance and then headed to a closet.

"How are you feeling, Stiff?"

"Well" she cleared her throat, "I can stand. So I guess I'm fine"

He picked a black shirt from his closet and put it on.

"Go back to your friends" Eric told her, "try not to be alone with the three fuckers; we could avoid a murder that way."

He then threw something at her. Tris's movements were sluggish and if it hadn't landed on her shoulder, she would have probably dropped the thing. Her hands held it in front of her and she realized it was a sweater.

"Should've given it to you last night" Eric explained, "you were probably freezing."

"No" she spluttered, "I mean, I was fine."

She quickly put the black sweater above her tank top; it was so big it reached the bottom of her backside and she fisted the end of its sleeves. It felt reassuring to have her body covered, as if it was protecting her after last night's events.

"Thank you" Tris replied after a moment. She hoped she sounded honest because she now knew Eric wasn't only evil. If only people tended to thank him more often he wouldn't be such a prat. Yes, she was shocked by his surprisingly gentle behavior but she couldn't help but feel some pity toward him. The Dauntless leader was indeed a bad guy, yet it didn't help him when everyone feared him and hated him.

"Go away"

"Thank you, really."

She headed to the door. She opened it and stood there.

"What now, Stiff?"

"I don't know this corridor" she said on her guards waiting for an outburst of Eric.

He noticed the wariness in her eyes and sighed.

"Come on I'll take you, Stiff."

She frowned. Now Eric was walking her to breakfast? She completely misunderstood him, he _was _kind. At least this morning. She didn't dare to comment it and waited for him outside his door.

Eric walked a few feet ahead of her. The walk to the cafeteria was silent; neither did say a word, yet it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. Eric was trying to guess who the kids that vandalized the infirmary were and Tris was too lost in her thoughts. Eric did seem kind and caring under his scary leader cover. However he was working with Erudite. There was no doubt about it since the conversation she heard between the two. That man was a danger to Tris. She had to stay away from him; after yesterday's incident he would probably keep an eye on her and she couldn't afford that. He was dangerous.

She peered at his broad back; at the way his muscles moved when he walked. He looked so strong and composed. She could now easily see that it was a cover just by looking at him walking. Maybe if people tried –if _she_ tried- to show him respect he could drop the cover. She almost cursed at that thought. Why the hell should she care about him? _Ugh, must be my abnegation side…_

When they reached the cafeteria, Eric stopped in his tracks, turned his head around.

"Remember, Stiff. Keep close to your friends. Don't stay alone. At least not alone with the fucking coward trio" he instructed, his voice deep. She opened her mouth to answer him.

"Tris!" someone shouted from behind.

Tris turned away from Eric to see Four walking to her in big fast strides.

"Four?" _Why did he sound angry?_

She frowned and glanced back at Eric to find the spot where he was standing empty. He had entered the cafeteria.

"Are you alright?" Four asked, sporting a concerned face his eyes roaming over her yellowish black and purple jaw. "What happened to you? Why were you with Eric?" then his face became expressionless again "A panicked Christina came to me this morning telling me you didn't come back to the dorms."

"I-" she began

"And then I walk into a very bruised Peter." He cut her with an accusing look in his eyes. "Can you or can you not tell me what the hell happened last night?"

"I-I was attacked by Peter and Drew" she paused, took a deep breath and ignored the tears menacing to fall down from her eyes, "and Al."

"What? What did they do to you?" now he seemed angry. "And Al? When you say 'attack' do you mean-"

"N-No!" she stuttered out "No. I mean not like you think."

"Thank God!" he sighed, "Are you ok, Tris?"

"They wanted to push me down the Chasm" she looked down.

"I'm going to kill them." He strongly stated. "Wait. You managed to get out of it? Did you beat Peter up like this? He's even worse than after his fight with Edward!"

She looked deeply into his eyes, wondering what his reaction would be to her revelation. Four loathed Eric. She continued to study his face when saying "Eric is the one who beat Peter up." She paused for him to react. His eyes narrowed. "He saved me"

Four didn't say a word but appeared to be in deep thinking.

"I guess I should go" she turned back to the doors.

"Wait. Don't look so fierce"

Tris frowned and he tried to explain.

"You need to look weak. Or else Peter will think he failed to scare you. And believe me you don't want him to think that. He'll just come back at you and this time maybe no one would be there for you"

She was angry at Four for asking her to do such a humiliating thing, but she knew he was right; she couldn't afford to let Peter stab her with a butter knife. She wasn't able to look so fierce anyway; the bruises on her stomach and her back hurt so much each time she took a step, that it required a certain strength not to wince at the pain.

"Alright" she muttered, "but they did not fail to scare me" she laughed ironically.

"I would have died if not for Eric" she said praying for her tears not to fall. She pushed at the door.

_I should just let the tears fall. It'll make me look _weak.

Tris walked through the double doors and headed straight to Christina and Will, doing her best to look defeated and scared. As she expected, it wasn't hard; she just had to stop ignoring the pain her bruises caused at every movement she did.

She sat down, Christina and Will facing her, folded her hands in her lap, and looked down at them.

"Oh God!" Christina gasped. "Tris! What happened to you? Why weren't you there last night?"

Tris took a deep breath.

"I was attacked. They tried to throw me down the Chasm." Recalling the frightening night brought tears to her eyes. _At least I don't need to hold them back now. It's ok to look weak._

"Who did this to you?" Christina asked angrily. Uriah chose this moment to plop down on Tris's right.

"Man, what happened?"

"Peter. Drew" she let out a shaky breath, "and Al."

"Al?" they all shouted in unison.

"I don't believe it" Will added with wide eyes.

"I swear! I swear he was there!" she cried out, now tears were running down her cheeks.

"But are you alright?" Uriah asked worriedly.

A hand came in contact with her shoulder. Tris jumped and turned around to see Al standing in front of her. He'd dared to show himself.

Tris instantly stood up, ignored the throb in her stomach, and stared at him in fury. She wiped away her tears with her sleeve. Well, _Eric's_ sleeve.

"Tris?" he whispered

That was it. She could bear to look weak in front of Peter, but there was no way Al thought she'd been affected by their attempted murder. She was so angry at him. He'd hurt her so much, he was her _friend_.

"No" she firmly stated. "Do not talk to me. You don't get to _almost _kill me and then talk to me."

He lifted his hand toward her, his face looked genuinely sorry; but she was no abnegation at the moment.

"Don't you dare to _touch_ me!" she yelled. "Stay away from me! You show your face to me again and I swear I will kill you."

She added in a harsh tone, "I thought you were my friend. You're a coward, Al."

"But Tris, I am your friend. I-I don't know what's wrong with me. Please believe me, I won't harm you ever again. I'm so sorry." He stammered.

Uriah stood up from his seat and came close to Tris.

"I think you'd better go, man" he cracked his knuckles for good measure.

Al's eyes darted everywhere. He was trembling; he opened his mouth but quickly closed it. And then he ran away.

The whole table followed him with their eyes until he was gone. Uriah draped an arm over Tris's shoulder and led her back to a sitting position. She groaned in pain when she slumped down too harshly.

"Come on, forget about him."

"We're here for you" Will reassured her while Christina took her hand and squeezed it from across the table.

"I can't believe they attacked you three on one. That is so unfair."

"I don't want to be rude, but how the hell did you survive?" Will asked.

"Maybe they just wanted to scare her"

"Well, they succeeded then." Tris dryly told them.

"Is that your sweater?" Christina curiously asked with a smile and curved her eyebrow.

"No"

"So big. Did a man give it to you?" she was now wearing a big smile. Christina was actually trying to make fun of her friend to see her smile.

"Really, Christina! Now's not the moment!" Will scolded her. "Ok. I think we should do something about Peter, Drew and Al"

"What? Fight them?"

"Holy shit." Uriah suddenly gaped, "Are you the artist of this piece of work, Tris?" He pointed a very injured Peter coming from the double doors. His face was completely distorted by bruises; his left cheek was a yellowish blue, his upper lip was so swollen that his mouth couldn't naturally close. Both of his eyes a bluish black. He was slightly limping and clutched his right arm to his chest.

Tris gasped and her eyes searched for a particular man. She found him in mere seconds. Eric sat at the end of an almost empty table; Max was sitting two seats away from him, scolding two children.

She focused her glance on Eric; he was smirking at Peter, apparently proud of his 'piece of work'.

Drew wasn't anywhere in view. _Must be in the infirmary_, she thought. But then it would mean that Drew was in an even worse state than Peter. She couldn't help but feel content. They had paid. Eric made them pay.

"Tris?" Christina called

"So did you or did you not beat the hell out of Peter?" asked an impressed Uriah.

"Um, no. I didn't."

"Who d-"

"Eric." Tris cut. She thought she should as well tell the bunch of them about Eric if she wanted people to respect him. Ok, maybe she was acting Abnegation today. If they knew Eric saved her, they could be civil with him.

She honestly expected shouts and questions from her friends. But instead, she was facing a really heavy silence.

"Eric saved me, ok? When I thought I was going to die," her voice cracked, "when my feet were dangling above the Chasm, Eric came. He's the one who beat Peter and Drew." She didn't want to add a word about Al.

"Wow. I'm surprised." Will talked first.

"Well, you know, he's not a leader for nothing" Uriah observed. "He's kind of cool. No, I mean, he's a jerk but… he's strong."

There was a silence again.

And Christina squeaked. They all quirked their eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"Your sweater!" she pointed to Tris. "It's Eric's!"

Will sighed. Christina could really be silly at times. Tris opened her mouth, but didn't find anything to protest.

"So basically Eric, the ruthless Dauntless leader, becomes your hero and gives you his sweater. My, my, did you spend the night with the big bad muscled boy?" she asked with a wide grin.

Tris could only blush at her sly remarks, her mouth opened once again, but she couldn't find the words.

"Did you sleep on his bed?" she added

"Chris!" Will scolded her, "will you please stop bothering her? She's a former Abnegation, don't forget. Look how she's embarrassed."

"Alright! Alright!" Christina pouted while Uriah was dying from laughter, "I just want to cheer you up a little, Tris. You're in pain and you're so down."

"I'm fine, Chris" Tris offered her a small smile.

Four chose this moment to stand up.

"Transfers!" he barked. "We have something new to show you this morning. Follow me!"

"Be careful, okay?" Uriah frowned.

"I'll be okay" Tris smiled tiredly

"Don't worry dude, we'll protect her" Will squeezed her shoulder in a sign to reassure her.

They all headed to the fear landscape room after him. Four told them they had a free week to prepare and explained them the third stage of initiation. Then he left them free for the rest of the day.

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"Tris! Tris!"

Tris woke up to Christina's urgent voice.

"Tris, oh my God"

She opened her eyes. At first Christina's face was a blur but then Tris could discern the tears and smudged mascara on her cheeks and the distress on her face.

"Chris, what's wrong?" Tris worried.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Yes, what is wrong Christina?

**Review, review! Please! I need your reviews.**

Thank you Shadoows for being my lovely beta reader.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Tris! Tris!"

Tris woke up to Christina's urgent voice.

"Tris, oh my God"

She opened her eyes. At first Christina's face was a blur but then Tris could discern the tears and smudged mascara on her cheeks and the distress on her face.

"Chris, what's wrong?" Tris worried.

"It's Al" she let out a sob, "I don't know he's- they said- just. Just come with me please."

Tris tied her combat boots as quickly as she could and then they hurried to the Pit. As they ran, Tris wondered about what could have happened with Al to put Christina in such a state. Asking her now wasn't a good idea; she seemed so shaken, Tris thought. If he'd just gotten himself in a fight, Christina wouldn't be crying. The darkest side of Tris was telling herself that she didn't care whatever was happening to Al because she hated him. But another part of her was frightened; what if he was dead? She tried to ignore this possibility.

Then Christina tugged on Tris's arm.

"The Chasm" she whispered in a trembling voice.

Tris felt her heart clench at these words. It meant that Al fell down the Chasm. That he was _dead_.

"No." Tris whispered, "this is not true"

"Tris, come" Christina urged her, taking her hand.

They walked to the Chasm hand in hand. The more close they got to it, the more people they could see. When the Chasm was finally in sight, Tris stopped, forcing Christina to stay as far away from it as possible.

There were two men grunting, hoisting something seemingly heavy with thick ropes. His _body_.

They pulled Al over the railing, dropping him to floor.

One of his legs was lying in an unnatural angle. Broken. His body was a pale color. His face was expressionless. His mouth open. His eyes still open. But void of any life.

Tris felt her limbs numb. Al was dead.

She felt Christina's sobs making her body shake against her; she was gripping Tris's left arm, burying her face in the crook of her neck.

"Maybe it was an accident." Tris heard a man speaking behind her.

"Don't be stupid. No one falls by accident down the Chasm" a woman spoke up. "Besides, he was an initiate"

Tris looked at the body. A dauntless man closed Al's lids with the back of his hand.

Al was a coward, he jumped, he ran away when things were too hard for him. Al was a coward. And she was nothing better than him. She should have accepted his apology. Instead of being selfless she threatened him while he seemed so unsteady.

"Yeah it's just like last year"

"Like _every_ year"

Tris couldn't take it anymore. All these people talking about death like it was nothing. She stepped away from Christina, letting her fall to her knees still crying loudly. Then she ran.

Maybe it was nothing; death. After all Al was gone so easily. One minute he was there and the next he was a stack of heavy limbs in the water. This was sick.

::::

When Tris was finally calmer, she went to the Tattoo parlor without thinking. Tori tried to sooth her and then walked her to the Pit for the funeral.

There was a noisy crowd gathered in the Pit, everyone was chattering. It didn't took long for Tris to find her friends, they were standing in the front of the crowd near the railing of the Chasm.

She nodded to Will, Christina, Uriah and a few other initiates in acknowledgment, not trusting her voice for the usual greetings.

"Look who's there" Molly's voice came to Tris's ears.

Tris turned and saw her smiling devilishly, Peter walking close behind. For once the Tank was the one to do the talking and not Peter. Tris watched as the Tank walked close to her. When Molly leaned to whisper something in her ear, Tris already clenched a fist at her side and the muscles of her arm tensed, ready to strike Molly if she crossed a line.

"Guess what I read this morning, Stiff?" she whispered in Tris's ear. Tris scrunched up her nose in disgust when Molly's bad breath came to her nostrils.

"Molly, if you continue I won't be responsible for-" Tris warned her in a tense voice.

"Well I read a very interesting article about your family of fucking stiffs. Now I do understand why you left your violent stiff parents."

Tris didn't wait for another word; she had warned Molly and that was already an extremely patient move, she thought. Her clenched fist darted with more strength than usual because of her anger and so quickly that Molly didn't even have a second to dodge it nor let out a scream. It crushed on her cheek. Molly stumbled back and Tris took the opportunity to smash her feet in her stomach, earning a grunt from her opponent. Molly tried to keep her balance but she fell on her butt anyway. Tris ignored Christina and Will's urgent voices, she wasn't quite finished yet; she prepared another punch, bringing her elbow backward. But before she could throw her fist, a strong warm hand grasped her elbow from behind. She quickly glared back to see who interfered with her fight and caught sight of Eric's grey orbs.

"That's enough, initiates." His deep voice came to her ears.

Eric let go of her elbow not so gently making her body turn fully toward him.

"I won't have two more initiates dying today" he hissed dangerously as he leaned his face close to hers. She felt her breath hitch and her cheeks heat up as she stared at his cold grey eyes.

Then Eric walked to Molly to grab her by the collar of her shirt and hoisted her up. He turned to give Tris a last warning look before marching away toward the front of the crowd.

"We're not finished there." Tris hissed to Molly when she was sure that Eric was too far away to hear anything. Then she walked away from her, heading to the back of the crowd.

:::::

"Alright listen up everybody!"

The chattering stopped and he continued, "Thank you. As you know, we're here because Albert, an initiate, jumped down the Chasm last night. We don't know why he did it and it would be easy to cry over his death. But here in Dauntless we don't do easy."

His eyes swept over the crowd and caught Tris's. At that moment, she swore she saw something flinch in the depth of his silver eyes.

"The truth is-" His eyebrows frowned a little as he tried not to look at her. "The truth is that Albert is now exploring a place unknown to us. He jumped into these dark waters to go there."

"Who among us would be brave enough to take this path and find out what there is in this darkness?" he barked and Tris flinched. "Albert was not yet a full Dauntless member but we can be sure that he was one of the bravest!" he yelled.

Cheers took over the crowd. Eric noticed the blond petite figure of Tris turning around and walking away. He didn't know why and it infuriated him that he wanted to go after her. He knew she probably found the speech stupid. He himself found it insulting and outrageous but he had to do it. He cursed himself for even caring about her and yelled over the shouts of the crowds "To Albert the brave!"

He jumped down the crate and picked a bottle from someone. He took two gulps and marched through the crowd heading to the darkest corridors of the compound.

:::::

After wandering through the compound for several minutes, Tris had bumped into Four. Their conversation infuriated her. She was already angry at Eric's nonsense and now Four kept telling her to be careful. But how to be careful? With the record times she was doing under the sims it wouldn't take long for the leaders, for that damn Eric to find out and kill her. So Tris cursed and walked away from Four when he didn't give her any answer.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

_Away from you_, she thought bitterly but decided better on a "I want to be alone right now. I need to think about all of this" And with that she continued her way through the dark corridors.

After some minutes she stood in a particularly dark one and wondered if it was the same where she sat days ago when Uriah, Marlene and Lynn had found her. So she sat down, gathered her legs to her chest and buried her head down.

"Who's there?" someone barked causing Tris to jump.

"Eric?" she recognized his voice.

Suddenly there was some light and she saw at her right Eric crouched against the wall holding a lighter.

"It's you, Stiff"

Tris didn't answer anything; she was still angry at him. She shot him a dark look and chewed on her cheek before turning her head to face the wall in front of her.

Eric shut the light off and asked "What's with the look initiate?"

Tris refused to answer; she knew if she did she would be yelling at a Dauntless leader so she shut her mouth and opted to stand up and leave.

"I know what you think" his deep voice spoke up.

That made her stop in motion; she decided she would listen to him and waited for more.

"I have to repeat the exact same speech each time somebody jumps down the Chasm." And then he mumbled "I hate it too."

"What?" Tris was amazed at Eric's sudden confession. She sat back down.

"Yeah, Stiff" he said in an obvious tone and drank the rest of his bottle.

"Oh" Tris realized he must have drunk too much to talk to her like this.

There was a silence. Maybe she could try to talk to him. _If he's drunk enough to chat with me_… Tris saw a glimpse of kindness in him last time and now she wanted to know more about him, she wanted to experience his kindness again. Oh she was still afraid of him, hell yes she was. But she was feeling Dauntless at the moment.

She scooted a little closer to him.

"I didn't like it either" she cleared her throat. "So why do you say it if you hate it?" she said warily.

There was a noise of breaking glass and Tris jumped. Oh yes, she was still afraid of Eric, that just confirmed it. He'd just thrown his bottle to the wall they were facing.

"Don't talk to me like that" he shouted "I am a Dauntless leader!"

Silence.

"Okay, well, um- I'm gonna go" Tris mumbled. She stood up and began to walk when Eric grabbed her wrist. She fell down against him and gasped at the pain she felt from her bruises. Eric wouldn't let go of her wrist and grabbed her other one.

"Don't go" he croaked out. His deep voice sounded miserable. It pained her to hear it so sad. Yes, she had finally admitted to herself that she loved his voice.

She had some trouble to understand what was going on; was she really in Eric arms?

"Eric you're drunk" she tried to reason him. She could feel his strong arms around her and was sprawled against his chest. Behind the strong alcohol odor she could still smell his masculine scent; it wasn't cologne or anything too strong, it was simply his natural scent. And she shamefully found herself wishing there was no alcohol so that she could inhale him.

"Don't go" his chest rumbled when he spoke.

"Eric you're hurting me. My bruises" At that, Eric let go of her and she fell backwards.

Tris was between his legs facing him, her hands steadying herself behind her back.

"I forgot" and after a moment "Stay" his silver eyes sought for hers in the dark hallway.

Light. Eric had lit up his lighter and Tris could see his eyes in the orange light. She could discern the distress in them.

"You're so going to hate me for that when you'll be yourself again" she sighed.

"I am not myself now?" he frowned seriously

"No you're not" she sighed "Alright, I'll stay" she settled herself beside him. His long hair tickled her bare shoulder but she didn't scoot away, she like the proximity and the warmth she could feel from his body. Even though he was still extremely scary, it excited her to be faced with the stranger that was Eric. A few days ago she thought that she knew him, that he was a sadistic man with no emotion except maybe joy when he tortured other people. She was wrong.

"But you can't be an ass about it later" she added.

"Why would I be?" he chuckled

There was I little silence, she was thinking about an answer.

"I am nothing to you" she shrugged. "I am just _Stiff_ and you're a leader. You don't usually talk to me if not to mock me or punish me. Right now you're unusually talking to me about some stuff and you're actually being… kind. If later you remember any of this you're going to be mad at me because that's who you are. You don't talk to me. So this is strange but that's because you're drunk."

"You think I'm drunk? I'm not" he chuckled.

"Yeah I don't know much about drinking but I bet drunk people say they are not drunk" she said with a smile.

A silence descended between them.

"I'm not going to be mad" Eric broke the silence.

Tris had a strange sensation in her stomach and she knew it wasn't from her bruise. She turned her head to look a him; she could barely discern his profile in the darkness of the corridor. He was handsome. She chewed her lower lip and in a bold intention, she picked a strand of his long black hair that was tickling her shoulder; she played with it between her fingers and asked herself how a man can have such smooth hair. She smiled and wanted to ask him but stopped herself; it was already a miracle that he didn't react violently with her playing with his hair.

They stayed in this comfortable silence for a long time. They both knew a strange link was created by this moment between them.

"Eric I should really go" she whispered.

When he answered nothing, Tris let go of his hair using the opportunity to graze her fingers against the bare skin of his arm. She stood up and just before going she said "You know I think it's great when you're not acting like an evil jerk. And I know it's an act" she paused, she didn't know if she could say it. "I don't think you're a bad person" she guessed he was drunk anyway and would probably not remember any of what happened.

"Bye Eric"

She left with a smile on her lips and lightness in her footsteps.

Only later would she realize that she had spent an awkwardly great time with the person the most susceptible to kill her.

:::::

She found Christina and Will in the Pit. The crowd wasn't there anymore, but there was some Dauntless members crashed on the ground and against the walls with loads of bottle. _They probably love Eric's speeches because they have an excuse to drink afterwards_, she thought.

"Guys I want a new tattoo" Christina said sadly "I think we should remember this day and a tattoo will do the work."

"That's actually a good idea. I want one too" Will told her "You comin'?" he turned to Tris.

She actually wanted an ink of the Abnegation symbol on her arm since a few days. Maybe it was time to do it. She nodded and they headed to the tattoo parlor.

When Tori finished the symbol on Tris's right shoulder, they went back to the Pit. Tris could still feel the needle stinging her shoulder.

Her gaze went up the Pit and she caught a glimpse of a figure marching up the stairs. It was Four. And he was pointedly looking down at her. She didn't want to see him. The guy infuriated her. He hated Eric and it annoyed her that people hated him. He could be so much better without them around. She realized it was a very selfish thought but she didn't see a reason to follow Four anyway.

"Hey, can we go back to the dorms?" she asked her friends.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>REVIEWS! Please I am becoming desperate for reviews :(

I hope the whole scene between Eric and Tris in the corridor doesn't seem too unrealistic or OOC.

Thanks again to my lovely beta


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Why are you looking at Eric?" Christina broke Tris's reverie.

"Uh? I was. I mean, I was not." she averted her gaze to her plate.

"Tris. You just avoided my eyes. You know you can't lie to me."

"What are you guys talking about?" Uriah happily asked the girls as he sat down beside Tris.

"I was just saying to Tris that she was staring at Eric since we got here." Christina answered.

Both of her friends looked at Tris expectantly.

"It's just that he seems lonely" she shrugged.

Now the three of them stared at Eric who was swallowing down his food oblivious to them.

"Lonely?" Christina snickered, "there's a reason why he's sitting alone."

"I know, I know. But I can't help myself from thinking that people don't give him enough credit. They avoid him like he's a sickness. And well, he was kind enough to save me."

"_Anyone_ would be kind enough to save a small girl from three guys"

"Hey!" Tris snapped angrily at Christina.

"Well..." Uriah began, an expression of deep thinking on his face. "Now that you mention it, it must be pretty boring to sit alone. I should sit with him. No, actually we should _all_ go there"

Tris smiled, "He's going to kill us if we go near him."

"I don't want to be near him. He creeps me out! Tris, he may have saved your ass but he also almost threw mine over the Chasm." Christina pointed.

"Maybe he just wanted to prove a point and used harsh method, knowing you were strong enough to resist."

Uriah suddenly stood up.

"Uriah? You didn't eat anything"

"I'm going to eat with him" he smirked.

"What?"

Tris and Christina watched as he strolled confidently to Eric's table. He took a seat on the bench in front of Eric and started to talk lively with arm gestures that would look exaggerated on anyone else.

"Is he trying to die?" Christina asked dumbfounded.

Tris saw Eric's eyes slowly lifting up from his food to Uriah. The look he gave him was so intense and threatening, that even from afar, Tris shuddered along with Christina. Yet Uriah didn't back down, instead he started to fill his plate.

They watched as Eric finally spoke words to Uriah; words that looked like a warning. The boy simply took a huge bite of his hamburger shrugging his shoulders. That was apparently hilarious to Christina. She burst out laughing.

"Uriah is awesome! I love him!"

Tris smiled, "Yeah, he's a great guy"

She felt better now that Eric had some company; and an entertaining one. He had seemingly given up on making Uriah leave and had returned to his food.

Tris looked at the people in the cafeteria; most of them were eyeing curiously the odd pair that made Eric and Uriah together. She chuckled and leaned her chin on her hand.

"Am I going crazy or am I really seeing your dauntless born friend eating with Eric?" Will asked as he took a seat beside Christina.

"You're not crazy, dude" she laughed. "I love this guy."

"Well that's a change," Will said while staring at Eric's table "I didn't think I'd ever see Eric eating with anyone. Did Uriah got punished?"

"No" Tris sighed, "Uriah just thought that Eric was lonely."

"You mean, _you_ thought."

"Okay _I_ am definitely not going crazy but _you guys_ are going crazy" Will muttered between mouthfuls of peas.

"Let's just hurry up with lunch; we can't be late for our first day in the fear landscape" Tris said.

:::::

All initiates were walking up the stairs to join Four and Lauren who were waiting for them in front of the Fear Landscape room.

"Hurry up, initiates!" Lauren barked

The two instructors were waiting arms crossed over their chests. Tris felt _his_ presence before she saw him. She glanced behind her and saw his menacing frame.

"Eric," Four nodded his head in acknowledgment "I thought you said you couldn't come."

"Don't be so thrilled I'm here you'll make me blush" Eric retorted in a sarcastic tone while walking to the other side of the door of the bright room.

"I wanted to keep an eye on my favorite initiates." He smirked at Drew and Peter; both of them were still in a bad shape. Drew visibly shuddered under his gaze.

He leant against the wall and his eyes swept over the group. Tris felt insecure because of the conversation she had with the drunken Eric. She suspected she had crossed the line when she talked openly with him. _Does he remember? Please don't remember. Please don't_, Tris thought. But just then, his eyes stopped on her. Four was talking to the group but Tris's focus was still on Eric. He did an almost imperceptible nod to her. She bit her lip and her gaze flew away; to ignore her reddened cheeks, she tried to concentrate on Lauren who was now speaking. _Oh shit. He does remember._

"So each one of you will go in my fear landscape. But because of a matter of time you'll only face one of my fears" Lauren explained. "Alright, we'll start with one my initiates. Lynn, come here you're first."

Tris watched Lynn getting a shot of the serum and pushed through the door to the white room by Lauren. Suddenly the lights inside the room went out and they could barely see Lynn. But they could hear her shouting insults at what she was calling "filthy little crawling creatures" and everyone laughed.

Tris frowned as she felt Eric staring at her; or more like she guessed he was. She turned her head toward him. Indeed, here he was intently staring at her; and her eyes were soon enough trapped in his. She couldn't look away, she didn't want to look away. So they stared at each other. Each one of the pair daring the other to look away first.

"Tris, you're next!" Lauren called and Tris broke the eye contact with Eric. She had been so caught up in the staring contest that she didn't even pay attention when Uriah and Peter went through Lauren's fears. She cursed to herself, she had no idea what was waiting for her in this strange room; she didn't listen to Four's instruction either, and that was because of Eric. Tris cast him an annoyed look and he raised an eyebrow in response.

"Hurry up girl" Lauren called her again.

When Tris came to her, she shot her the serum and pushed her into the room.

"So you have: kidnapping by men without faces, good luck with that" she shuddered, "but it should be okay with you as it is a fear of my."

"Yeah, good luck!" Christina called to her in a concerned voice.

Tris gulped and waited as the lights turned off in the room. Suddenly, there was grass under her feet and someone harshly grabbed her arms from behind. She gasped. Other hands clutched her waist, her thighs and another clamped on her mouth so hard that she could taste her own blood in her mouth. She struggled with all her will as she screamed between the fingers of the man's large hand. They pushed her and they led her somewhere. She screamed so much that her throat ached. But she couldn't do anything else. She was powerless against these men. Then there was the Chasm in front of her.

It was happening all over again. They came back. The men that haunted her dreams. They wanted her dead. Dead as Al.

They pushed. This time no one came for her. She sobbed. She fell into the darkness and the loud noises of the Chasm. It was so dark, so heavy, she brought her knees close to her chest as she cried and she dug her fingers into her scalp and clutched at her hair.

"No, no" she kept repeating like a mantra.

"Stop it" a man's voice said and the lights came back. She was laying on the cold stone floor of the Fear Landscape room. The voice was Four's. He grabbed her forearms and hoisted her up.

"What the hell was that, Stiff?"

This fear of kidnapping felt just like that night when the three boys tried to kill her, and reminded her of all the nightmares she was having every night. Lauren's fear became hers. Tris had failed, in front of everyone, in front of Eric. She looked up and her eyes searched for him through her tears. There he was, standing behind everyone, staring and frowning as if he didn't understand something. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment and she looked down; she had made a fool of herself.

"You weren't even trying" Four cut her thoughts.

"I-I couldn't" she stammered.

"Get a grip of yourself! You are fucking pathetic."

These words didn't go well with Tris. Something in her eyes snapped and she jerked her arms out of Four's grip. She slaps him. So hard that the noise echoed in the small room.

"Shut the fuck up" she said slowly in a tone lower than usual.

Tris walked away from him, from everyone, out of the room and avoided Eric's gaze. She refused to see the mock in his eyes.

She needed to get out of here.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Sorry I know this chapter is short. But I really felt like ending chapter 4 there.

Chapter 5 is already written so if I get a lot of reviews and feedback, I might just post it in a day or two.

Thank you so much for all the reviews on chapter 3 :D


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When the last initiate entered the fear landscape room, Eric didn't bother to pay attention, he simply walked away. He had a meeting with Jeanine in an hour and now was probably the best time to leave; meaning when Zeke's little brother was too caught in watching and commenting the last initiate's performance in the room. Eric grunted in annoyance as he recalled how clingy he had been during _and after_ lunch.

The boy had just casually sat down in front of him and Eric couldn't believe it. He had some guts to dare sitting there; no one sat with Eric, except for Max and the other leaders when they had to prepare government meetings. He usually sat alone and that suited him perfectly; it was a reminder to everyone that they had to fear him. And the worst was that Eric had _almost_ wanted to smile when Zeke's brother insisted on staying.

"Nope. I began eating so there's no way I am going away now" he had said.

And after lunch he stubbornly followed Eric to the Pit and even casually chatted. Well, if it could be called a chat; Eric didn't utter a word while he was imagining different methods of torture to shut his mouth.

So Eric went outside and hopped on the train, towards Erudite.

As he leaned against the doorframe of the car, one hand holding the handle, Eric recalled how panicked Tris had been during her first go in the fear landscape. Well, in Lauren's fear landscape. And that was what made it odd; it wasn't her fear, still she panicked and screamed and thrashed. Fear of being kidnapped by men with no face. That was what she got, if he remembered correctly. Why? Was this fear of kidnapping reminding her of something? The night she was attacked and dragged to the Chasm? That was probably the case, Eric thought. Was she still scared of Peter? Al was already dead and Drew too frightened of Eric to do anything. Maybe he should do something about Peter. Or not. Why did he have to care? She was scared and that was it. He didn't care.

:::::

Tris entered the main building of Erudite. She was relieved that her bruises had healed enough for her to take the train. She came in a big hall, where stood a desk in front of her. Apart from that, the hall was empty; the brightness of it could nearly hurt someone's eyes because of the glass wall and the white marble floor. Behind the desk was an old lady looking seemingly interested in whatever was on her computer. Tris hugged her sweater against herself; well, _Eric's sweater_. She'd put it on without a second thought when she'd passed by the dorms before getting on the train.

She walked to the old lady.

"Excuse me"

The woman didn't react.

Tris cleared her throat loudly to make her presence noticeable.

Still no reaction. God. That woman was already getting on her nerves, and Tris wasn't in a good mood.

"Excuse me." She repeated strongly.

The old lady finally looked up.

"Hi. I'm looking for an initiate. Caleb Prior?"

"I am sincerely sorry, young lady. I am not allowed to share this information with you." She answered in a monotonous voice; then she looked back down at her computer, already forgetting Tris's presence.

"What? Why can't you tell me?"

The woman ignored her.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Tris waited for a few seconds and then she slammed her hand on the desk, the noise echoing in the wide hall.

This time the old lady looked up, startled but still looking rather annoyed by Tris's outburst.

"I said. Tell. Me. Where. Caleb Prior. Is." She threatened her. But just then, she heard footsteps and caught sight of a group of young men walking out of double doors at her right. Caleb was among them. She smiled in relief. It was so good to see him.

"Old slug" she spat in disgust at the old woman behind the desk, before calling for her brother. "Caleb!"

"What on earth are you doing here?" Those were the first words he told her.

Tris ran to him and pulled him into a fierce embrace. She had to admit, she was disappointed by his reaction. She'd wanted her brother to march to her and wrap his arms around her. She realized it was mostly why she came there, she wanted a comforting presence, she wanted someone familiar to hug her and tell her genuine reassuring words. Instead of that, Caleb simply looked at her with an air of superiority. He wasn't returning the hug. He stayed still.

So she drew back and studied his face.

"Caleb? What's wrong?"

She noticed his eyes darting around them, as if he was afraid his snotty looking fellow initiates were watching. But they had simply left without a second glance at Caleb.

"You're wearing glasses? But you can see perfectly well! Caleb this-"

"Beatrice!" he hissed, "let's go outside, alright?"

Caleb then strode to the glass doors headed to the park that surrounded the huge building, her sister following close behind him.

He spoke again when they reached a deserted spot behind a statue.

"Are you insane? Why did you come here, Beatrice?"

Her sister flinched at his harsh words; it really wasn't what she was expecting, she felt a pang of pain in her chest.

"I missed home; you're the closest thing I have to home"

He thinned his lips at her answer.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too, _brother_" she added feeling tears well up in her eyes. No. She was certainly not going to cry in front of him behaving like that.

"Beatrice, I'm sorry ok?" he quickly told her after seeing her hurt expression. "It's just that. Well. I mean I'm thrilled to see you" he stammered putting a hand on her shoulder.

"But you have to understand there are rules. You shouldn't be here." Caleb explained.

"I don't care about the fucking rules!" she shot back

"Hey. Language, Beatrice!" he took the tone he used back then to scold her. "Dauntless changed you. And if I were you, I wouldn't ignore the rules, especially being in Dauntless."

"What do you mean?" Tris snapped defensively. Dauntless was her choice. He didn't get to talk bad about them. She still found some kind of freedom there.

"Now don't get angry, I just don't want them to hurt you"

Both of them softened after that.

"Something is going on Beatrice. Something big; I don't know what. Jeanine Matthews is planning something."

"What? How do you know?"

"Jeanine's doing speeches about corruption in Abnegation almost every day. And there are Dauntless leaders around here." Caleb whispered as if someone was trying to listen to their conversation.

"Caleb. Tell me you don't believe what Jeanine says" Tris thought back about the article Peter and Molly read to her.

When her brother didn't answer, a painful look passed on her face, but quickly faded to be replaced by anger.

"Caleb!" she shouted

"Jeanine has well-built arguments." He stated proudly, "I do believe that she has a point about Abnegation being the leaders. I've read an-"

"It's our parents she's talking about!" Tris harshly cut him. "Mom and Dad! Please tell me you're not on Jeanine –fucking- Matthews's side! She is just a freaking b-"

"Beatrice" Caleb warned her in a low voice, "I think you should leave." He was once again sporting his new air of superiority.

Tris huffed, "Right." Now the tears were back in her eyes, menacing to burst out.

"Right" her voice cracked, "_Faction before blood_, I guess. You're perfectly right about everything, _brother_." Tears rolled down her cheeks and she quickly swept them away with the back of her hand.

She calmly turned away from him, fighting the urge to run away and cry her heart out.

But she stopped after a three steps.

"By the way, if you still give a damn about her, Mom would like you to do some digging about the simulation serums."

And without waiting for an answer she walked away towards the main entrance of the Erudite compound. She missed the hurt expression on her older brother's face.

::::::

No more than 50 meters ahead, Tris ran into two Erudite men. They were arms crossed, probably trying to look strong and fierce though they were very lean and had less muscle than her.

"Excuse me," said the one on the right. "We need you to follow us."

Tris was feeling miserable because of Caleb; yet the two men blocking her path and ordering her to follow them without a motive managed to switch her emotions to fear. That was it. They knew she was Divergent. They wanted to kill her. They were the one who sent Eric in Dauntless. Jeanine! Caleb said she was planning something. Was she the one controlling Eric?

When the man on the left took a step toward her, she grabbed his arm and shoved him to the side before kicking him hard in the back, causing him to stumble to the ground in a grunt. The man was easily dominated by Tris; he was probably surprised by her sudden attack.

When satisfied with the view of the man on the ground, Tris took a fighting stance, prepared to dodge any punch or kick from the other one. And he did. He threw a punch at her stomach but Tris swiftly stepped to the right avoiding it. That would be the perfect opportunity to send her elbow to his side. So she lifted her left arm.

"Stiff!" someone yelled.

Tris instantly recognized the deep voice.

She turned to where the shout came from and searched with eyes still wide from the adrenaline of the short fight.

Eric was there, coming out of the main building of the compound, angrily marching to her;

"Stop this!" he ordered her. She dropped her ready-to-strike elbow and looked back at the man, checking if he was charging at her. He was simply staring at Eric and slightly bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Eric was now towering close to her.

Tris opened her mouth but no sound came out of it. She knew she had no valid excuse to him.

"What are you doing here? Answer me!" He shouted so loudly that it made Tris flinch.

Eric noticed how afraid she seemed to be of him, not even managing to answer him.

'_Good'_, that's what he would have thought. Eric loved when people feared him. It proved him they acknowledged his superiority. So _why_ couldn't he think it was _good_ if the Stiff was looking up at him with such fearful eyes? _Why _did he feel the need to calm down to remove that look from her eyes?

"Stiff" he said calmly. "Why were you attacking those two Erudite men?"

Tris cleared her throat and finally found the words, relieved he wasn't in that state of fury anymore.

"I-I don't know. I thought they were attacking me. I got carried away." She shrugged.

To her surprise, she caught the corner of his lips twitch. But only for a second.

_How very Dauntless of you, _he thought amusingly. His little Stiff was becoming a real Dauntless.

"You're not allowed on Erudite's ground. Who let you out of our compound?"

"Er- um no one did" she looked down.

That was it. That was when Eric was supposed to burst in anger and announce her she was cut from initiation for breaking the rules.

"Come on Stiff, let's get back there" he sighed and began to walk away.

Her eyes widened and she quickly followed after him, not even bothering to look back at the two Erudite men.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Please review!<strong> As always I am desperate for reviews and if I don't get some more I- I- I might just go in the corner of my room and sob alone in misery the whole weekend. Just kidding, I can't do that I need to study.

I know this chapter is short again but I promise chapter 6 -which is already written- is longer not to mention some... things... interesting things... are happening in chapter 6 *sigh* I just love Eric...

Oh and I apologize; sometimes I'm not sure if some sentences are grammatically right. English is not my mother tongue. So if some of you guys notice some English mistakes, feel free to tell me :)


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Halfway to the train tracks, Eric groaned in frustration.

"Why the hell did you go there?" he was angry but at least not shouting. Tris could see how hard he was trying to stay calm. Once again she was witnessing a bit of the kind side of Eric. It warmed her heart that he was actually trying to be gentle.

"I'm sorry, Eric" she apologized before explaining, "I wanted to see my brother"

"W-What?" he glared at her, "never heard of the phrase 'Faction before blood'?"

"I know, I'm sorry" she mumbled.

"That was an act of treason! Just be glad I was the one to find you and not Max!" he scolded.

"Then why were _you_ in the Erudite main building?" Tris shot back but immediately regretted when she saw the dark look Eric cast her.

"Careful. I happen to be a leader. You don't question what I do, Stiff" he said in a menacing low voice.

Eric huffed and balled his hands into fists. He didn't want to speak again, afraid he might yell at her again.

When they reached the tracks and waited for the next train, Tris broke the silence.

"I just wanted some comfort" she muttered. "I really hoped Caleb could give me some…"

"What's wrong, Stiff?" he asked. The memory of Tris slapping Four was still fresh in his mind. "Is it because of Four? Just why did you hit him?" He gauged her reaction, he didn't want to be too harsh on her. Then he leaned in and smirked. "Not that I care; I often find myself wanting to beat the crap out of him but you're not really allowed as he's your trainer. But then again I wouldn't mind if you did; I could make an exception and let you beat him if it makes you feel better."

She did not answer but gave him a little smile at his attempt to be funny. _The _Eric was being funny. It warmed her heart again and she had to fight back the urge to hug him. Then she imagined him giving bear hugs and the idea was so absurd that she almost laughed out loud.

But, oh how she wanted to tell him she was divergent, and she was afraid to die, and she worried about her parents, and she was still wary of Peter. She didn't know why she wanted to tell him. It was a stupid thought. They barely knew each other. He was supposed to be the number 1 enemy. He was supposed to find out about her divergence and kill her. She couldn't risk it. But there was some kind of weird link between them. _Girl if you were to die; he'd be the one to shoot you_, she told herself.

"Tris?"

She felt her heart jumps in her chest, she snapped her eyes to him. It was the first time he'd called her by her name.

She was seeing a completely odd Eric; he looked slightly embarrassed by his initiative to call her that. Her jaw dropped; Eric, _the_ Eric was embarrassed. Did the simulation serum mess with her head?

But his face instantly returned to the stoic appearance.

"You know, next time you decide to do something utterly stupid that could be considered as treason, come to the training room. Throwing a few punches or running 'til you can't stand will do the work."

She smiled at his unexpected behavior and suggestion and nodded.

"I think I could use the training room right now" she answered

"I was just heading there too, Stiff" he smirked.

:::::

The train came and Eric began to jog along it. Tris quickly followed, struggling to keep Eric's pace. He jumped, easily grabbed a hold of the handle and landed at the ledge of the car. But instead of getting inside, he turned his body toward a running Tris. Their eyes met and he stretched his free arm to reach her. Eric managed to grab her wrist, pulled her to him, and then slid his arm around her waist to lift her. Tris's body was flush against his when he led them inside the car.

She couldn't think of anything but his hard chest against hers, his strong arm around her waist, his masculine scent and she felt something stir inside her guts. She could clearly admire his neck tattoos that disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt. She found herself wanting to see again the entire art that covered his shoulders and collarbone under his shirt. Her head barely reached his chin. His black hair flowed in the wind caused by the speeding train. She had the urge to admire his eyes, but he released her and she had to step away.

Tris cleared her throat. "Could have done it without you"

"If you say so." Eric snickered. He decided to stand at the opening of the car for the ride back. Tris settled against the wall facing the opening.

For a few minutes, Eric simply stared at the landscape arms crossed while Tris was admiring his figure and the shape of his muscled back.

"Why did you want to see your brother?" Eric broke the silence.

Tris waited before answering. She fisted the sleeves of the huge sweater and crossed her arms over her chest. Once again she itched to open up to him. She wanted to tell him she was Divergent and that she was afraid to die. She wished he'd take it well and keep the secret for himself. But who was she to think that? He loathed her only a few days ago. And maybe he still hated her. He'd just kill her. They weren't even friends, it was a just a silly thought because she missed someone strong's presence, yes that was it. She cursed at herself; she was _again_ thinking about telling him. She needed to stop.

"I told you, wanted some comfort." She settled on this answer.

"Yeah but you didn't explain why." He turned to her.

"I'm fine. Why do you even care?" she hoped her voice sounded steady.

"I don't." Eric turned away from her and plopped down.

::::

When they finally arrived at Dauntless, Eric let Tris jump from the train on her own and she was glad that she managed not to fall when she landed; or else it would have been really embarrassing.

"So?" he smirked at her, "Training room, Stiff?"

Tris smiled awkwardly and nodded.

They silently headed there, and Tris was relieved to find it empty. She wouldn't want to be watched by people; Eric's company was enough to make her nervous.

.

Eric ignored her for the first minutes and began to run laps around the area. He understood that she would need some time alone, even if she wasn't technically alone. But it would easier for her to punch her guts out without him watching. However at the momentum of each lap when he was running behind her, he would watch her and analyze her technique. Her first punches where weak, but the more she hit the bag, the more powerful they became.

When drops of sweat began to run down his back, he removed his shirt and dropped it in on one of the mats before continuing on running for 15 minutes. Eric decided that she had been punching for long enough; she was so tired that each punch was accompanied by a whimper of pain. So he stopped in his tracks and jogged to her. She didn't hear him coming, so when he put a hand on her shoulder, she screamed, and in one motion swiftly turned and threw her fist to him. The speed of it didn't bother Eric at all; he blocked it, receiving it at full speed in his palm.

He still held her fist, letting her catch her breath. Their eyes met; his, lazy, while hers were wide and searching.

When she was steady again, her gaze dropped to his bare chest and then to his abdomen. Eric noticed, and smirked when she blushed and her lips parted. But when she dared to roam her eyes lower, Eric couldn't help but break the silence.

"Like what you see, Stiff?"

At that, he laughed and watched in amusement her cheeks turning even redder than before, if that was possible.

"Come on" he dropped her fist and motioned her to follow him to the mats.

"Feeling any better, Stiff?"

"I guess so" she muttered

"You don't sound convinced as I expected. So I'll help you."

He stood on a mat and waited for her to position herself in front of him.

"Hit me" he told her when she seemed ready.

"What?"

"I said. Hit. Me." He slowly repeated in his deep voice.

"But-"

"You can use every part of your body. No restrictions. Fight me."

He took a fighting stance to encourage her and waited for her to do the same. He noticed how wary of him she was, so he nodded at her as if to give her the permission to hit him.

She weakly attempted to punch his stomach but he stepped away. She moved forward and sent him her elbow with more force this time. Eric dodged it with his forearm. She stepped back and exhaled sharply through her nose in frustration. They circled each other for a few seconds and then she came back at him, threw him punches after punches as if he was a bag. But none of them reached their goal; he avoided or blocked each one. When she realized it wouldn't work on him, she tried to alternate her uppercuts with kicks, and sent her elbows and knees whenever he was in reach. They continued like this for long minutes. Eric could see her weakening, she was losing speed and apparently her muscles ached because she either whimpered or groaned at each movement.

It was when she screamed throwing him a punch that Eric decided it would be her final one. Instead of simply avoiding it like he kept doing, he grabbed her wrist, swept his foot behind her ankle and pinned her to the mat. Then he lifted his right fist and sent it back down in an amazing speed. He smirked when she screamed and clenched her eyes shut, his fist had landed right beside her head, he hadn't aimed for her, he'd just wanted to end the fight.

They were both panting, Eric on top of her.

"That's not fair. You weren't supposed to fight back." Tris managed to say between pants.

"I don't recall saying I wouldn't" he chuckled arrogantly and pushed back a strand of blond hair that was stuck to her forehead.

"So, I repeat my question. You feeling any better, Stiff?"

"Yes" she smiled, "I do actually."

He smirked and sat off of her.

"So the little Stiff is no more scared of me, uh" Eric mocked her.

Tris used her hands to support her and sit up. She tried to focus her gaze on his face but it was really hard as his toned chest and abdomen were exposed. Not to mention his skin was covered in sweat and his hair were tousled, sticking to neck, his grey eyes were glistening with amusement and it all made him way too attractive to her. Her gaze focused on his tattoos; they covered his neck, collarbone and shoulders in complex tribal patterns. Oh how she wanted to lean closer to him, she wanted to study and admire the patterns and trace them with her fingertips. She wanted to feel the strong muscles of his chest under her hands."

"After all, _I'm not a bad person._" He said in a voice too soft for him. He smirked again.

"Oh." Tris was startled. So he did remember when she told him those words. "Shit." She muttered.

Eric laughed, "Tris don't make that face, I told you I wasn't drunk."

"Well," she tried to answer as she felt her cheeks heat up, "I guess you did."

They sat beside each other for a few seconds. Tris cleared her throat, she'd gradually regained a steady breathing.

"I missed home." She whispered. And instantly regretted it. _Why the hell was she telling him this?_

Eric looked back into her eyes.

"I mean," she stammered, "I don't know, I wish I could see my parents. But I can't. With the whole _faction before blood_ rule. My friends haven't been really comforting; they all pity me because of Peter. And Four kind of got on my nerves humiliating me in front of everyone. I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't really think straight when I hopped on the train. And I shouldn't have. Caleb, my brother, he's such a jerk. You should have seen his reaction when he saw me. He practically denied me as a sister and insulted our parents." Tris stopped when she realized how casually she was talking to Eric.

"You're not mad anymore?" she carefully asked.

Eric snorted. "Hell yeah I am mad. A Dauntless initiate going to the Erudite compound on her own to visit her brother. Without permission. This is new. And you can't do that again." He warned.

Tris slowly nodded in response.

"Come on, let's get out of here" Eric stood up.

Tris nodded again, stood up with difficulty; all her muscles were sore but it felt good. It wasn't a bad soreness; she'd fought hard and she truly felt lighter. She walked to the punching bag she'd just beaten. She picked up her sweater that she'd removed and dropped there when they arrived before.

"Eric?"

"What?"

"I guess I should give it back." She handed him the black sweater.

Eric eyed her for several seconds. "Just keep it."

Tris frowned.

Even if it hurt his pride deeply, Eric admitted to himself that he had actually wanted to comfort her. He had repressed the want to hug Tris tightly in his arms when she'd repeated once again that she missed her home. She looked so miserable. Not to mention that her damn Erudite brother didn't cheer her up.

So he'd told her to keep his sweater. There wasn't any rational explanation behind this. It was just that he wanted her to have something from him as he couldn't give her an embrace.

So when Tris hugged his sweater against her and whispered a small "okay" his chest tightened.

"It looks funny on you, Stiff. You're so minuscule" he smirked.

She pouted and he simply walked towards the door of the training room without looking back, shirt in hand.

What was she doing to him? Eric didn't cut her from initiation like he would have done with any other initiate. He didn't want to yell at her nor punish her; he genuinely cared for her. He'd just trained with her as an attempt to cheer her up. He'd just given her his sweater.

"Eric?" she called him and he turned. "I know part one of Initiation is finished but do you think I can come back here tomorrow?" she asked wearily.

Eric shrugged.

"You're not a full Dauntless member yet" he began and smiled when she looked so defeated. "And you will never be if you wander out of the compound ever again. But-"

Her face brightened.

"You can be here with supervision. I planned on coming here tomorrow. Same time."

"Thank you" she gave him a wide smile.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. I expected more feedback for the last chapter. There's so many people that read my work but only like 5 or 7 persons actually give me their opinion on each chapter.

Reviews are really important to me. And when I don't get them, I ask myself if this is really worth the time and effort I put in writing. I mean, I worked on these chapters. If you guys don't give me feedback how am I supposed to feel?

Now I am not saying I won't continue on posting. Some readers are always here to post a comment; I want them to read and I truly thank them very much.


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: **Do you guys listen to epic music? There are tons of 2 hours mixes of epic music on youtube. It is just awesome to read while listening to it.

Thank you everyone for your reviews :)

This chapter is kind of long, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

It was early morning when Christina and Will jumped on Tris's bed.

"Wake up! Wake up!" they chanted loudly, Will shaking her shoulders and Christina sitting on Tris's stomach.

Tris managed to turn on her stomach and she groaned.

"Stop it you're giving me headaches" her voice rasped because of her sleepy state. "How can you be so lively this early in the morning?"

"Stop complaining and get up or you'll miss breakfast" Christina shot back

"When you'll stop being so heavy and get off of me"

"Alright we're going ahead. Hurry up if you want to eat with us" Will added before standing up and dragged Christina out.

After ten minutes of turning around in her bed, Tris finally admitted that her friends were really good at waking people up. Sleep just wouldn't come back.

She sighed, pushed back the covers and shuffled slowly toward the bathroom all the way rubbing at her eyes.

After a quick shower, she put on black cargo pants and a tank top from the drawer below the mattress of her bed. Then she grabbed the black sweater Eric gave her. She stared at it for several seconds. She thought about going back to the bathroom to wash it; but then she glanced around her to check if she was alone and she brought the sweater to her nose. She closed her eyes and sighed.

As she expected it smelled slightly like him.

There was no way she would wash it. At least not for a few days.

Tris put it on, she pulled up the collar to her nose and inhaled again. Then she blushed at her own stupidity.

She jogged to the cafeteria and smiled when she spotted her friends. A quick glance toward Eric's table confirmed her that Uriah was still eating with him. Her smile spread even wider. She was tempted to sit with them.

No. It was too embarrassing.

She took a sit next to Will.

"Morning" she smiled

"You took your time."

"I took a shower."

"And you are _again_ wearing his sweater," Christina remarked. "Okay it was fun to tease you the first time but you seriously need to get rid of it. It's becoming weird and freaking scary. One could think he's your boyfriend or something. Ew." she made fake puking sounds.

Tris bit the inside of her cheek to avoid from yelling at her friend.

She grabbed a toast and took a deep calming breath.

"Don't be silly. This sweater is comfortable and Eric didn't ask it back. So I'm keeping it and making good use of it."

"Can we please stop talking about Eric" Will raised his eyebrows. "Anyway, like I was telling Christina, I planned on asking Four a few questions about the fear landscapes."

Christina groaned.

"Shut up. So Tris, don't you find it intriguing that our bodies still move during the simulations? I mean it's not only happening in our heads. I believe that the serum also has an action on the inner ear because it is obviously controlling our balance. For exemple, if you fall in the fear, you will really feel like falling; however there is no falling in reality, there is no hole in the floor. You see?"

Tris nodded but she had stopped listening after the first words. Her focus was not on the action the serum had on her inner ear but on Eric. She kept glancing furtively at him.

"That's why I think the serum must have an effect on the vestibular system. But that's the question, how does it work? I know it's probably on duping the hair cells but I want to know what active ingredient the serum contains. You see, it could be a neurotransmitter that-"

"Will!" Christina cut him, "Please just stop blabbering already" she whined.

"Excuse me but the simulation serum is really interesting and it concerns all of us."

"Oh but how come no one cares?" Christina said in a bitchy voice.

Will huffed, "Then stay as ignorant as a baboon! No, worse than a baboon!"

After a few minutes of arguing, the three of them talked about their different fears.

Tris had no motivation to go under a simulation again. The last time she went, she freaked out and was humiliated in front of everyone by Four. She didn't want to see Four either. He infuriated her but at the same time she was a bit scared to face him; though she would not admit it even to herself. She shouldn't have slapped him. It felt good, though.

She sighed heavily.

Today was certainly going to be a hard day once again. At least she was going to train with Eric right before dinner.

She sighed again; but not for the same reason and this time she was smiling.

"What are you smiling for?"

"Nothing." Tris bit her lip.

:::::

"Tris!" Four yelled at Tris, "stop right here!"

She sighed in frustration and finally agreed to listen. She spent the morning in the Pit with Christina and Will. Just when she excused herself because she wanted to give both of her friends some privacy, Four had spotted her and tried to talk to her but she had ignored him and walked away until now. She stopped but refused to turn, so he was forced to march in front of her.

"Will you please listen to me?"

She simply stared at her angry instructor, her mouth set in a thin line to keep the bad words she had in mind to slip out. She also raised an eyebrow to appear arrogant and defiant in case he was going to reprimand her for her behavior.

Four exhaled heavily through his nose.

"I just want to help you. When will this idea get through your thick skull?"

"Yeah right, because injuring me with a knife, shouting at me and humiliating me in front of everyone is helping me so much. Thank you Four. I don't know what I'd do without you and your precious help."

"I thought you'd got over the knife thing. And _you_ slapped _me_! _I _should be the angry one here" he sighed, "I give up. But I don't want- Just listen to me okay?"

He waited for a few seconds to have her full attention.

"You need help" he whispered.

Her eyes narrowed. _Thank you Captain Obvious._

"Listen if I don't help you on this, they will know- I mean you-" His eyes flickered sideways "Look, I'm not going to let that happen. I'll help you for the D-Day."

Tris was struck. Four was going to help her through the final test. Wait. Now that she thought about it. Did it mean he was divergent? According to what Tori said, Four either knew someone divergent or was divergent. But if he knew how to hide it during the fear landscapes, there was a great chance that he was divergent and had to do it himself. And Four finally was going to give her advices.

"When you're in a simulation, act like a true Dauntless would. You cannot keep on controlling the sim. I thought you would have guessed it by yourself with my comments, I'm sorry" He added in a hushed tone.

She almost wanted to cry; she was so thankful that Four was finally willing to help but at the same time it was really frustrating that he didn't come to her earlier. She had been moping for days, afraid that she was going to be tracked down by Eric and killed by him or Jeanine or whoever was controlling him in Erudite. When it could have been so easier, Four decided to help only now. At least he was helping.

"Right, so for your Final Test, keep what I said in mind. Like a Dauntless in simulation."

"Four, wait!" she called him when she saw he was already walking away. "Wait. Are you-". She had to know. Was he divergent too?

"Calm down." Four added in a hushed tone.

"You are one?"

"Not so loud." He glanced around them as if someone was listening to them.

"So you are" Tears welled up in her eyes. Someone divergent actually passed his final test and was alive. And was willing to help her do the same.

"It doesn't matter. Just focus on what I told you and we'll see how it goes tomorrow" He whispered and turned again. Tris held up her hand and grabbed his sleeve.

"Thank you" she whispered when he looked at her over his shoulder.

Four turned his body again to face her. He gently took her hand that was gripping his jacket and patted her head. Sobs were now shaking her shoulders and tears spilled out of her eyes. Maybe she wasn't going to die anymore. The fact that someone like him made it alive was reassuring and it made her want to believe she could do it; it gave her hope. She couldn't contain her tears.

"Tris" he soothed her. "It's going to be alright. Be strong."

She nodded and wiped her tears away.

"Sorry. And… sorry I slapped you"

"No worries." He shook his head, "I shouldn't have been so harsh on you. But I've got to say, you have a strong hand."

They both laughed at that.

Four looked at his feet before speaking up again.

"I suggest we go into my fear landscape and I show you how it's done the Dauntless way."

Tris said nothing, she gaped at him. How could he suggest such a thing? They barely knew each other; she would certainly not want to go into his head.

"I promise you it'll be okay. And it would allow me to show you exactly how I did on my final test." He insisted.

"Four, I don't really want to go through your fears, it is way too personal." He tried to cut her but she continued, "we barely know each other. I refuse. I mean thank you for wanting to help but sincerely, I can't do that."

Four sighed in defeat and his eyes darted to the side.

"Then let's go through Lauren's fears and I'll teach you. If that's alright with you?"

Tris nodded and crossed her arms, hugging the sweater close to herself in the process. She didn't like this idea either but she had no choice if she wanted to learn.

:::::

Eric stood up, ready to leave the meeting. He was impatient to go back to the Dauntless compound; Tris would be in the training room as they agreed the day before. He smirked at the thought of fighting with her again.

"Oh and one more thing, Eric."

He stopped in his tracks.

"I'd like to talk to you about Beatrice Prior. I believe she's one of your initiates."

His heart jumped but he kept a calm expression.

"The Stiff? She goes by Tris in Dauntless" Eric thought that calling her "Stiff" was probably the best option to avoid any suspicion from Jeanine.

"Tris." She paused, "what can you tell me about her?"

"Not much. The Stiff almost got cut at stage one. I have to say I was impressed to see her pass. But she worked hard and improved. She's good with the simulations; probably one of the best initiates this year."

"Just as I thought." Jeanine crossed her legs and rested her joined hands on her lap.

"Beatrice is the daughter of Andrew Prior from the governmental council. As you know there's a high amount of Divergent rebels in Abnegation. And I have to say I was surprised when I found out that Andrew's daughter transferred. Andrew and his perfect Abnegation wife could only produce an Abnegation daughter."

Eric felt his stomach drop. He shoved his hands in his pockets to appear casual. _Oh shit. She's probably Divergent._

"You think the Stiff's Divergent?" Eric exclaimed in a mocking tone.

"You understood me, I believe." Jeanine coldly remarked.

"But she did pass the Aptitude Test. And all those simulations in stage two."

"Oh but she is smart, surely she's found a way to hide it" Jeanine smiled, "I discovered that not only her results of the aptitude test were entered manually, but also her data of simulations in stage 2."

"Alright" Eric cleared his throat, "what do you want me to do?"

"Oh nothing, Eric." She smiled again, "at least for now."

"As you know many of the suspected Divergent rebels have managed to pass the final Test. I am certain that there are actual rebels among the Dauntless, rebels that slipped through our fingers. But it's fine, they're a minority; when everyone will be under the serum, you'll just have to shoot them on sight like I instructed you before. I just want you to watch for Beatrice and kill her when the time will come. That is, if she passes her final Test without revealing her true nature. In the case that she fails; I will send my men to arrange her an unfortunate suicide. And of course there's the thin possibility that she is not Divergent."

Eric said nothing. He just stared at Jeanine, fists clenched in his pockets. He had to fight to keep calm features and repress the urge to crush her nose under his knuckles. _That would feel fucking good. _If the bitch could also cease her smiles it would help.

"Well, you can go know, Eric."

Eric nodded and went out of her office as calmly as he could.

That bitch was asking him to kill Tris. _His Stiff._ There was no way he would be able to kill her.

At least it wasn't completely sure that Tris was Divergent. _Hell_. _Of course she is Divergent_. There were too many evidences. God, his Stiff really brought him trouble. And when did she become _his _Stiff?

That was the problem, Eric realized. He just had to stay away from Tris. If he didn't care about her, he'd have no problem to kill her. His throat suddenly felt dry and he nervously cracked his knuckles.

Eric robotically came back to Dauntless; he was too lost in thought. He didn't even remember jumping in the train nor getting out of it.

_Fuck it_, he would still go to the training room. He wasn't going to let Tris and Jeanine manipulate him more than they were already; he just needed to punch at something to calm his nerves. Eric was now tempted to imagine Jeanine's face as a punching bag. He would go.

:::::

After Tris and Four went through all of Lauren's fears, Tris felt a little more confident. She was walking behind him down the stairs of the upper part of the Dauntless compound above the glass floor. She was lost in thought, thinking of which fears would show up in her fear landscape and how she could overcome them.

"There's something I want to show you; follow me." Four smiled at her over his shoulder.

"Oh. Alright."

Tris was feeling more at ease with Four. She trusted him a little now that he was helping her, so she didn't see a reason to refuse to follow him.

They walked down the stairs until they arrived at the Pit.

"Where are we going?" Tris asked curiously

"You'll see."

They headed toward the Chasm. As soon as she saw Four nearing the railing and felt a lump in her throat.

"Four?"

"I always come here when I want to be alone" he gave her a small smile.

Tris wasn't sure following him was a good idea anymore. She felt insecure near the railing. Maybe if it was Eric she wouldn't be scared. Eric was a confident man and if he was the one to tell her to follow him down the freaking Chasm, she would have felt alright because he would catch her if she slipped. She knew Eric would. But-

_Shit!_

"Four! What time is it?" Tris suddenly raised her voice.

"What? Do you have something else planned?" he raised both of his eyebrows

"The time, please?"

At her urgent tone, Four hastily pulled up his sleeve to access to his watch.

"4PM"

"I have to go!" _Double shit! _Tris had just remembered that she had a training planned with Eric in the afternoon. Her problem with her divergence and the fear landscape completely monopolized her mind for the past hours.

"But I was just going to show you my spot. Who are you meeting?" he scowled.

"I'm so sorry Four I really need to go now." Tris turned away and ran to the training room. To Eric.

She couldn't hold back, she had to run while a silly smile was plastered on her face. Tris didn't even took notice of Four's shout when she ran away nor she did think about the rudeness of her action. She just wanted to go to the training room.

However when she barged through the doors of the room, her smile faltered.

Eric was not there yet.

But he would come. He told her he would, so she would wait.

Tris headed to the mats and sat at the ledge of one. She tried to regain a normal breathing after the run she made to arrive. She also tried to ignore the uneasiness she felt about the thought of meeting Eric, it caused some strange tightening in her abdomen.

:::::

Eric stood outside the training room. He took a deep breath and entered.

Tris was sitting on a mat, her hands supporting her head and her elbows resting on her knees. Seeing her petite figure, Eric felt a wave of warmth course through his veins. She looked so fragile. But not in a pathetic way, more in the way that it pushed him to protect her. What was she doing to him? He ran a hand through his hair.

As soon as she saw him, her face brightened and she stood up.

_Wait, she was waiting for me?_ Eric thought.

"Eric" she happily greeted him. Oh shit, why was she smiling? She'll just make things more difficult.

"I need to punch today" he said. _What a great way to greet her. _Eric cursed in his head.

"Oh" she walked to him, "do you want to-"

"Tris, I really need to hurt something, alright?" he cut her tensely.

"Right. So, um, I'm just going to run laps, I guess."

Eric nodded and muttered a 'sorry' in his deep voice. He walked to the boxes at the wall. He took from it two strips of white cloth and wrapped his knuckles with it.

Tris ran a few laps while daring to glance at him from times to times. Eric really seemed angry and she really didn't know how to act in front of him. That's why she opted for running.

She had been in Dauntless for only a few weeks but she already came to enjoy running. She genuinely liked the feeling of freedom; each time she'd want to run more than the last to surpass herself. But she had to admit she enjoyed this particular run partly because it allowed her to spend time with Eric. They could almost call themselves friends; or well, maybe not yet, but at least he was not ignoring her. Tris was proud of herself; her little plan to improve Eric's image worked. Uriah certainly had a big mouth. Since she'd revealed to Uriah that Eric had saved her life, the word had reached every Dauntless member. Not to mention that Eric became Uriah's idol. The boy would follow Eric whenever he could –when they didn't have simulations. At lunch, he sat at Eric's table that was normally empty. Tris had once laughed at Uriah for being scolded by Eric; apparently Eric did not appreciate Uriah's constant presence. She couldn't help but imagine Uriah becoming a leader. Eric wouldn't be able to avoid Uriah if he became a leader too –that is if Uriah maintained his ranking.

She sighed. Eric made her forget her problems. It was paradoxal; he was the first person likely to remind her of her Divergence, and yet, here she was, appreciating her time with him.

She glanced at him. His punches were so powerful that the bag kept swinging dangerously and her eyes widened as she wondered if it would explode at a point.

She stopped running when he groaned, grabbed the bag with both hands and lightly smacked his forehead against it. He stayed in this position, forehead against the cold bag. Without her footsteps nor his punches against the bag resonating, a silence descended within the room. She could only hear his hard breathing and her small pants.

She slowly walked to him.

When he was within arm reach she tentatively lifted her arm, but dropped it at a second thought.

"Eric?" she called him in a hushed voice, as if scared to startle him or brutalize him.

He slightly turned his head, still leaning heavily against the bag, and stared at her through half lidded eyes.

She could see the torment in his grey eyes and felt the urge to help.

After a while, Eric broke eye contact, took a deep breath and straightened himself.

"I'll be going" his deep voice interrupted the heavy silence. "Don't mind me. Keep running."

This said, he walked out of the training room, her gaze following him in awe. _What was wrong with him?_ They were supposed to train together like the last time. Something wrong was going on. She'd find what.

When the door closed behind him, she snapped from her trance and confidently went after him. But silently. She still didn't know how he would react if she came running after him. She would just keep a good distance between them.

A few minutes later she recognized the corridors and realized he was simply heading back to his apartment. She wouldn't find out anything. Yet she didn't stop following him.

"Okay, what do you want?" he suddenly turned and she jumped. _Shit._

Tris cleared her throat. "Um. Well you seemed- I'm sorry. I just," she sighed heavily, "What's going on?"

"Stop following me, Stiff."

She gaped at him when he simply turned back on his heels. That was it. He was not getting to act civil with her one day and then suddenly change back to his old habits; especially when he clearly had problems and no friend to be with.

Even more confident than before, she went after him again.

When Eric heard her loud footsteps behind him, he almost forgot his frustration toward Jeanine and had to repress a smile. His little Stiff was surprising him once again. This situation was being completely ridiculous. Tris wasn't even trying to be discreet; she was literally stomping the ground with her heavy combat boots.

"Eric!"

He snorted. _What the hell. Did she really dare to yell._

He continued to walk away. Now they reached the corridor of his apartment.

"Eric!" she yelled again. "Please!" she pleaded.

Eric turned and sighed. She just would never let it go, would she?

They stared at each other for a minute, standing a few feet apart. He focused on her eyebrows and eyes; she looked sad. Or worried? He didn't understand; she was furious right before.

"Eric, is there something wrong? Do you have a problem?" she whispered.

He brought a hand to his forehead and massaged his scalp. He didn't know how to answer or how to feel. This was the most unexpected thing that had happened to him since he was a leader. She seriously cared about him and it warmed him. He smiled and chuckled tiredly.

Tris frowned. It was rare to see a genuine smile from him. Each time he either laughed or smiled, it was to be sarcastic and cruel or mock her.

Now here he was; smiling. But his eyes looked tired.

She slowly walked to him, never letting go of his tired gaze.

"What's wrong?" she whispered eyeing him worriedly

Eric bore his gaze into hers. Then he closed the gap between them. He wasn't thinking anymore. He was simply embracing her presence.

He rested his forehead against hers, ignoring Tris's small jolt when their skin still hot from training made contact.

They stayed like this for a long time. Neither of them remembered who was the first to wrap their arms around the other. Their embrace was overwhelming. Tris fitted perfectly against him. It was as if his arms had waited forever for her. He could feel her warmth through their clothes and it felt _good_.

"Everything's fine" he whispered.

She shifted a little in his arms to look up at his eyes.

"You sure?" she murmured.

He nodded.

His chest tightened. What was this pain for? Oh right. _Guilt_.

He was supposed to kill her when the time came.

Kill her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> I'm sorry it took me some time to post this chapter! There were parts I needed to change in this chapter and I ended up adding and changing a lot of things.

Starting from now, I won't be able to post weekly like I was doing before. But chapter 7 was really long so I hope it makes it up for me :p It was actually my longest chapter, I surprised myself! I thought about splitting it but it didn't felt right to stop the chapter until the "Kill her".

I'm sorry if the AN on the last chapter was rude. Feel free to post a review or not!

Thank you everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed :D

PS: Am I the only one who thinks ffnet is a smart evil invention to keep us from studying?


	9. Chapter 8

**AN: **Thank God! A wifi connection! I don't know why mine won't work. I am currently sitting at a brand new cafe. In my city there are no coffee shops like in the US or other countries... So it is quite a miracle to find a place like this with free wifi -not to mention that their coffees are really good!

You guys be glad -and me too; if it wasn't for their free wifi, there would have been no update this week!

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

Eric was marching towards the Pit. He needed to find Max and give him the damn simulation results. It had been already more than half an hour that he was searching for him in the compound and he had a meeting planned with Jeanine at Erudite in 40 minutes. Not to mention that it was a 20 minutes train ride to go there. He simply had to hurry. Jeanine wasn't the kind of woman to be tolerant about lateness. He knew the best thing to do was to go to the control room and ask Tobias where was Max. But he refused to see him for help.

He cursed in his head.

He was so lost in his thoughts and various curses that when he turned around the corner he did not notice the petite blond girl. And apparently she did not see him either because they bumped into each other hard.

He stumbled back and almost lost his footing but caught himself on the wall. However Tris lost her balance and fell on her butt with a little squeak.

When she realized who she had bumped into, she blushed at the stupid squeak she had let out. She couldn't have looked dumber and Eric was certainly going to yell at her saying that she could have looked where she was going.

"Fuck! Look where you're going, Tris!"

Eric was so predictable she almost wanted to roll her eyes. She didn't in order to avoid igniting his fury even more. But at least he called her 'Tris' and not 'Stiff' and just because he did, she didn't mind him yelling at her.

"I'm sorry, okay" she apologized from the floor she was still sprawled onto.

"Sorry? But it's not gonna change the fact that I am even more late than before and now I'm mad! I need to stay focused! Thank you!" he growled

"Hey!" she snapped back and stood up, "it's not my entire fault! If I recall correctly, _you_ were also not looking where you were going!" she rubbed at her sore butt and noticed the skin of his right arm was scraped. She quickly understood he scraped his arm against the hard stone wall when they had crashed.

"Your arm" she stopped raising her voice and took his wrist in her hand to get a closer look.

"It's okay." He said harshly and snapped back his arm earning a glare from Tris. He marched the end of the corridor to the Pit, ignoring her.

"Eric!" she could not believe it, after the moment they had shared the day before, she would have expected more from him. He didn't even ask if she was alright, though her butt ached from the hard fall. After all, Eric was as solid as a brick wall and both of them crashed at full speed. She knew from the soreness, her butt already bruised.

Eric said he was late. It must be something really important, she guessed. "Hey what's going on?" she called after him.

When he didn't answer she stubbornly decided to go after him. She had a free day and she would rather spend time with him than with Christina bitching about everyone or Will having a debate with himself about the simulation serum.

"Don't follow me Tris; I don't have the time to talk."

"What's that you're holding?" she asked when she noticed the folder in his left hand.

"You ask too much questions"

"I can help you if you want."

"Go away"

"You obviously need help. You said you were late" she said slyly.

Eric groaned and glared at her. She was now walking at his side smirking. But when he began to climb the steep stairs, she had to stay behind him.

"Eric" she called

"Damn it! I'm late okay! I don't need you to annoy me! I need to find Max and quickly! He's not in his office!" he yelled above his shoulder.

"So you need to find Max, that's it. I can try to find him"

"No you can't"

"Why would you say that?"

"You ask too much question"

"But I-"

"Tris!" he cut her, "leave me alone."

He was acting so distant and mean, she really wanted to push him or hit him. But she couldn't risk him to fall down the Pit so she waited until they arrived upstairs. As soon as they walked 10 meters, Tris drove a clenched fist in his back. She knew she couldn't hurt him that much because he was tough but at least it would stop him. She didn't know from where she gathered the courage to do it. Now that it was done, she could only wait to see his reaction.

Eric stopped walking and turned slowly.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" he said in a menacing tone and anyone could read the fury in his eyes.

She wasn't scared of him. That's what she was trying to convince herself. He would never hit her. She pouted her lips and glared at him. She wished he would feel at least slightly bad for his behavior.

His expression changed back to calm.

"I just wish to help you. Will you please let me?" Tris asked

Eric sighed, "Even if I wanted, you really can't, okay? I need to give these papers directly to Max" he held up the folder.

"But I can do that" she frowned

"It's the simulation results. I can't hand it to an initiate."

"And why did you say you were late?"

"Confidential information. But I have to be somewhere in 30 minutes"

"Erudite, right?"

Eric groaned, "you know too much and you ask too many questions. Just go find your friends, alright, I can handle it myself."

"Why don't _you_ just go? I can find Max and I promise I won't look inside the folder" They stared at each other for a few seconds while she waited him to accept her suggestion. He could trust her; she would never read the data.

Eric finally handed her the folder with a scowl. "I'm counting on you" he scratched his hair at the back of his head, making his muscles bulge and catching Tris's eye. Her face inwardly felt warm while she stared.

"I have to go" he cut her thoughts.

Then something pushed her to do the boldest thing she had ever done to a boy. She didn't know why, she didn't even try to stop the urge. She stepped closer to him before he could walk away and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her head was tucked under his chin and a small sigh escaped her lips.

She couldn't see his face so she had no idea how he would react after her bold initiative. She didn't have to wait long though; without a word, Eric placed an arm against her back pressing her closer to him and let his chin rest on top of her head.

"Will you be at the training room when you get back?" she asked quietly.

"Well, we've got to work out those small muscles you've got" he gently pinched her biceps and when she made to protest, he quickly added, "You were really good last time. It'd be a shame not to train."

Tris smiled. They would train together again.

"I'm late, Tris" he said softly.

Neither of them looked at the other when they parted. Tris tucked the folder under her armpit and headed back down to the Pit. She was horrified but ecstatic about what just happened, about the courage that pushed her to hug him. She was beginning to get used to these paradoxical feelings Eric awakened in her.

Tris didn't have to search long to find Max. When she arrived at the Pit, the first places she planned on checking were the shops and she directly caught sight of Max getting out of the tattoo parlor, laughing with another man.

"Sir" she called him

"Tris," He greeted her, "Just call me Max. What do you want, girl?"

"Eric asked me to give this to you."

"He did?" Max looked stunned; he glanced at the folder, then at the man standing beside him and then back to Tris. "You didn't look in there now, did you?" He took the folder when she shook her head in negation. "This damn boy! I asked him to give me these papers this morning! He's good at nothing."

Tris almost wanted to snap at him for being rude. It wasn't Eric's fault that he did not find him earlier!

"I'll be going, Sir." Tris nodded her head and walked away.

::::::

The day of the Final Test finally came. Four administered the orange serum to Tris and wished her good luck.

Luck. She didn't know if luck was needed; her performance would be based on her ability to ignore the urge to control the simulation. Not on luck.

Her training session with Four had been satisfactory. There shouldn't be a problem today either. She would make it alive in Dauntless.

She took a deep breath and faced 5 fears that she had already come across in stage 2 of initiation. It wasn't too hard if Tris ignored the shaking of her hands and the tightness in her stomach. The past days, she had already thought of strategies to overcome these 5 fears.

Everything went smoothly.

.

Suddenly Tris was sitting at a table in the cafeteria. The only problem was that the room was empty. She whipped her head from her left to her right trying to catch sight of someone. But she was alone. Then she got a strange feeling in her guts telling her there was someone else and she quickly turned around on the bench. It was as if she'd _sensed_ someone behind her. When she was satisfied no one was behind, she turned back on the bench toward the table.

She jumped. Eric was sitting right in front of her, his elbows resting on the table.

"Hey Stiff." He smiled. "Can I call you Tris?"

She sighed. God, she really liked the sound of his deep voice. But she eyed him warily, he was acting rather oddly; he seemed too peaceful and calm. Not to mention that he already called her by her name plenty of times before.

"Okay, what is going on?" she asked.

"Nothing's going on, Tris."

"Why is the cafeteria empty? Why are we even here?"

"We're just here to chat."

"Chat?" she stared at him in disbelief.

"Yes" he said, "I want to help you for the final test."

"Is it already over? Why don't I remember wh-"

"Tris." His gaze became so intense that the words she had in mind completely got lost in her mouth.

Eric was definitely acting oddly.

"Tris." He repeated in that deep tone that makes her shiver. He leaned in."Tris, do you trust me?"

She did not expect this question. And a good question it was. One that she'd been asking herself for days. Did she trust him? He was a threat to her, the first one after Jeanine herself, that was a fact. But she had discovered him bit by bits the last few days. And there was so much more she wanted to know about him. She simply appreciated his presence that made her feel so safe –how paradoxical. He'd protected her, he'd helped her, comforted her. Deep down she knew that he would simply not hurt her. She sincerely believed it.

"Yes" she breathed, looking straight into his grey eyes. Yes, she would tell him the truth, she decided. No, he would not kill her, she knew it.

As soon as she answered, Eric smiled and searched for something at his belt.

"How touching" he smiled again

"E-Eric?" she stuttered. He'd just pointed a gun at her forehead. "What are you doing?" Her heart was pumping so loudly it hurt and she suspected he could hear it.

He laughed.

"You're so fucking pathetic, Stiff. Really? Trusting me? That is so fucking funny." He removed the security system on his gun.

"No" she whispered. Her heart was still beating too fast.

"Now you're gonna die, Stiff. I'll make sure it's a painful and slow death so that you have the time to mop over your mistake of trusting me." he smirked.

Tris's eyes widened in realization. If Eric was being so strange it was because she was still in her fear landscape! But she'd just never lived this fear in training, that's why she had been taken by surprise. She tried to calm down but it was no use she didn't like _at all_ the sight of Eric pointing this gun to her head and it felt so real. Her heartbeat wouldn't lower. She'd had to act like a Dauntless to get out of it. _Think!_

"What? Are you scared, Stiff?" Eric laughed again "Well you should, I'm going to burst your brain out after you've screamed to the point of ripping your vocal chords."

Seconds later, Tris noticed that no matter what, the Eric in the simulation didn't seem to be pulling the trigger soon enough. He kept babbling nonsense and didn't shoot though nothing kept him from shooting. She would attack and it should end smoothly.

Tris waited for him to speak again and in mid-sentence, she shot the length of her hand to Eric's wrist and his grip on the gun loosened. She quickly retrieved it with her other hand. She pointed it at him, stood from the bench and jumped on the table. Tris crouched just in front of him and pushed at his forehead with the tip of the gun.

He stared at her, an evil hungry smile marking his features while she looked down at him in sadness. She didn't expect it to be so hard, shooting the simulation Eric.

"Do it, Stiff" he taunted her. That damn horrible smile would not leave his face. She hated seeing her Eric with this malicious and sadistic expression.

Tris didn't care. She would not shoot at Eric, simulation or not, no matter how menacing he was acting.

Instead of pulling the trigger, she slammed the back of the weapon against his temple. She winced at the loud noise but at least it was over.

Indeed it was over. Letting out a shaky breath, Tris came back to reality. Lights blinded her vision for a moment but then she could discern the walls of the fear landscape room and the single door on her right.

She bent forward, leaned her hands on her knees and closed her eyes to calm herself down and regain a normal breathing.

The final test was over.

:::::

What was wrong with Tris? She was still scared of him; after all his efforts to be civil? That infuriated him. But it also reminded him that Tris was like any other initiate and he had nothing to do with her. He _could not_ get attached to her considering the fact that she was probably divergent and that he would have to kill her at some point. Still, he was mad at her. Deep down he understood why he was mad at her; he simply did not want her to see him as a sadistic fucker heartless enough to shoot her just after gaining her trust. He was nothing like this.

He cursed. He was going to have to shoot her. That was him after all.

The latest serum Jeanine sent them would be inside her system, like every other initiate. Not if he intervened _now_. If he didn't tough, her divergence would be exposed. But maybe she wasn't divergent; and there would be no problem, everything would go smoothly.

Then he was mad at himself. For caring. For caring about her and for caring about what she thought of him.

He had worked so hard for his current leader position and for Jeanine's plan. The major part of their plan was happening tonight. He could not let a girl distract him. He would not care about her anymore because he refused to give up on his planned future with power.

He clenched his jaw as he watched Max picking a long syringe that contained an orange serum, the color similar to their other simulation serums but it had a completely different purpose. Eric stiffened when Tris tensely nodded at Max and pushed back her blond hair for him to plunge the glistening tip of the syringe in the flesh of her neck. He stood there, not moving, watching like an external spectator. She looked up at Eric and their eyes met. He kept his eyes on hers.

It was selfish of him, but he was no abnegation and he would not regret his decision.

That's why he ignored the strong pang of guilt in his chest.

He clenched his fists at his sides and looked away.

::::

After a few hours of doing nothing in the Pit, Tris, Christina and Will all headed to the cafeteria for the feast and the rankings.

"Hey Tris, will you tell me what were you fears?" Christina smirked, "Eric seemed to be really pissed off at one point. He stood up and almost stormed out of the room. My guess, it that you saw him dressed in red and yellow dancing and singing under apple trees! God, he would be even creepier dressed like that than in real life!"

Tris scowled. If Eric was angry during her fear landscape it was surely because of the last one. When she had to shoot him; in the end she simply knocked him out, so why would he be angry? He'd wanted her to shoot? Or he was probably pissed off because it hurt his pride to be knocked out by _the Stiff_ in front of all the other leaders. Not to mention that in her fear, Eric asked her if she trusted him, and that is quite humiliating for the stoic image people have of him. But Tris knew better. Now that she thought about it, she was embarrassed herself. Why did he have to watch this fear? She had answered "yes" to the Eric in the simulation. And the real Eric watched _everything_. This was really embarrassing. Tris whined softly.

"Alright I get it, don't tell me now, we'll talk about it after the final RANKINGS!" Christina shouted happily the word.

Tris smiled at Christina's excitement. But she still held a little grudge at Eric. He had no right to be angry. And he didn't even address her a single word when all the leaders smiled and presented their congratulations just before Max shot her the serum. Tough he did watch her, and quite intently when Max plunged the needle in her flesh. She shuddered when she recalled the huge needle piercing her flesh.

Her frustration faded away when they entered the cafeteria; at Eric's usual table sat not only Uriah, but Zeke and a dauntless girl named Shauna if Tris recalled correctly. The sight of Eric eating with a group of people could only make her happy. She smiled cheekily and followed Christina. She promised herself to thank Uriah for bringing his brother and Shauna.

.

An hour later, Eric stood up and spoke in a mic.

"I have a few words to say but I'll keep it short. We're in Dauntless not Erudite" he shrugged and people laughed at that. Tris however snickered. She knew he was a great Erudite himself. "A new year. A new group of initiates who worked hard to be here tonight. We must congratulate them." Cheers erupted from every table, people stomped the floor, drummed on the tables.

Then Eric spoke a few words about the importance of courage. More cheers resonated.

"Tomorrow, ten of our best initiates will be fledged members of Dauntless. Behind me will appear the rankings to know who passed."

Tris didn't have a second to blink, the rankings were already displayed on the screen behind Eric.

Her heart jumped painfully in her chest.

First.

::::::

First.

Eric couldn't hold back a smile so he turned his face away and tried to hid it with his long hair. Then he cleared his throat and his expression returned to normal; nasty and serious.

To give himself composure, when he sat back beside Uriah who was being too loud shouting and cheering, he smacked him on the back of his head.

"Hey! I didn't do anything wrong!" Uriah whined

"Yes you did. You're tearing my eardrums apart."

"But I'm second! Second! Can you believe it, Eric?" he yelled.

Eric smirked, "Yes, when could have been _first_; so stop shouting or I'll find some painful way to shut your big mouth once and for all."

"Come on, man" Zeke laughed, "let him be happy! He's part of us now. You're part of us now lil' bro!"

Uriah yelled again an incomprehensible sentence which included the words "second", "the best", "leader"

"Where's Tris?" he suddenly asked, "Where is she, Zeke? She's first! First! Eric! She's first! Oh there she is! TRIS!"

Zeke and Shauna burst into laughter as they watched him run to where Tris was. Even Eric let out a chuckle. Uriah went to hug her but he couldn't stop his speed so he ended up tackling her to the ground and the whole cafeteria heard Tris's angry yells.

"URIAH!", "GET OFF OF ME YOU BASTARD!" and "I bumped my head on the floor you stupid jerk!"

But after a few moments both of them were laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

Uriah danced and jumped. He lifted Tris in the air. Then Christina who was sitting on Will's shoulders shoved both of them to the ground. Will lost his balance and the four of them were sprawled on the floor laughing uncontrollably.

From his table Eric watched Tris's wide smiles and her shoulders shaking in laughter and the happiness that sparkled in her eyes. He didn't even try to suppress his smile; it was so good to see her like this. For the first time, someone else's happiness seemed to him more valuable than his own. He realized it. And even if he knew it was a bad thing for his plans, he could not help but relish the warm feeling in his chest that was able to make him smile so easily.

A hand clasped on his shoulder and he turned to see who it was.

Max was looking at him in seriousness. Eric's smile faltered.

He needed to focus on the plan. Not on Tris.

:::::

Tris woke up because of a terrible pain in her head. She grumbled and tried to sit up in her bed.

She caught a glimpse of her fellow initiates leaving the dorm.

"Chris?" She whispered. But there was no answer, Christina left with the others. Tris panicked and got up, put her combat boots trying to ignore her headache as much as she could. But as soon as she made a step, she felt a strong dizziness adding to the pain. She let out a cry and tried to steady herself. Never had she had a headache this painful.

"Eric" she muttered under her breath. He would know what to do. Something was wrong with her. Something was wrong with everyone.

So she stumbled to the corridors, heading straight to his apartment, leaning against the walls. She had to make several pauses not to fall to her knees because of the blinding ache in her head. _What it wrong with me? _She hated not being in control of what was happening to her. And this situation was exactly it; she didn't know what could cause such a pain to point of making her sweat and shiver, it swallowed her strength. She hated it. She almost wanted to cry.

When she got to his door, panting and whimpering, she leant heavily against it. She realized she had decided on a whim to go to his apartment and now she was hoping that he was home. Just as she did, the door opened and as she fell, strong arms wrapped around her.

His presence was so reassuring to her. She already felt safer now that he held her.

"Tris? What-"

"Eric," she breathed, "som- something's wrong with me" she croaked out.

"Shit!" Eric cursed in realization. If she went to him and if she answered to her name, it meant that she wasn't under the simulation "Oh fucking hell. You really are divergent".

He held her even tighter in his arms. Only fear could be seen in his wide-opened eyes as his head was fuming in thought. What was he supposed to do? Resign to care about her and kill her right there and then like he would have done with anyone else? Or ignore his reasoning, listen to his instinct and hide her?

He took a step back into his apartment and closed the door behind them. He brought her to his couch and carefully lied her down.

The fact that she was divergent was a problem. A huge problem.

He dropped to his knees in defeat beside her and buried his face in his hands.

.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Reviews please! I'd really appreciated some feedback. Tell me what you think. I can't help but find my writing less bad than in the first chapters. Maybe it's only a feeling, maybe it's only hope, I don't know!

Thank you my lovely beta Na-tan aka Shadoows for being amazing. The first scene in this chapter with Eric and Tris bumping into each other was her idea!

AAaaaAh I'm late! Gotta go! D: My friend is waiting for me!

But please review!


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